Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) CEO Acquires $24,222.00 in Stock

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) CEO Nitin J. Mhatre acquired 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.02 per share, for a total transaction of $24,222.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 88,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,955,353.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

BHLB stock opened at $22.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $960.47 million, a PE ratio of 44.20 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.26. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $18.07 and a one year high of $25.79.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 144.00%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,382,777 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $27,725,000 after purchasing an additional 201,948 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 397,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after acquiring an additional 53,162 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 205,597 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,122,000 after acquiring an additional 16,440 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $719,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 208,947 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on BHLB. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Berkshire Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company provides various deposit accounts, including demand deposit, interest-bearing checking, regular savings, money market savings, time certificates of deposit, and retirement deposit accounts.