Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $534,000 in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,500 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BHLB. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 17.1% in the 3rd 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 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 397,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,971,000 after buying an additional 53,162 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 355,266 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,123,000 after buying an additional 9,532 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 208,947 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,189,000 after acquiring an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 8.7% during the third 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 during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BHLB. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $223,542.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $223,542.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.02, for a total value of $451,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 87,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,936,592.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 172,878 shares of company stock valued at $3,932,356 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $21.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.07 and a 12 month high of $25.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.29. The stock has a market cap of $953.95 million, a P/E ratio of 43.90 and a beta of 0.87.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 3.40%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.00%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Company Profile

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.