State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,209 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 7,470 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 974.7% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,836 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 4,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 46.3% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,291 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares in the last quarter. 80.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre bought 2,100 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.54 per share, with a total value of $41,034.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,085,056.20. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre purchased 2,100 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $19.54 per share, with a total value of $41,034.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 55,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,085,056.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre bought 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.62 per share, for a total transaction of $96,018.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 53,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,446.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 6,190 shares of company stock valued at $142,028 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $20.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $927.67 million, a PE ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.36. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.07 and a 1 year high of $31.63.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $148.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.65 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 19.62% and a return on equity of 10.99%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 32.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BHLB. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 21st. TheStreet cut shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.40.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

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Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Berkshire Bank and Berkshire Insurance Group, Inc The firm offers deposit, lending, insurance, and wealth management products to retail and commercial customers in its market areas. It aims to expand and deepen market share and wallet share through organic growth and acquisition strategies.