Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the four ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

BHLB has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BHLB opened at $22.36 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a one year low of $18.07 and a one year high of $25.79. The firm has a market cap of $971.77 million, a PE ratio of 44.72 and a beta of 0.87.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.32 million for 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 posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,718 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.73, for a total transaction of $470,920.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 156,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,550,630.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,718 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.73, for a total transaction of $470,920.14. Following the transaction, the director now owns 156,209 shares in the company, valued at $3,550,630.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $223,542.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,850 shares of company stock worth $3,437,063 in the last 90 days. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BHLB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,963,000. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 777.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 314,951 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,820,000 after purchasing an additional 279,071 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,382,777 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $27,725,000 after buying an additional 201,948 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 272.6% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 83,050 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after buying an additional 60,762 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,146,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.