BNP Paribas Financial Markets Increases Stock Position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 42,427 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 5,356 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.10% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $1,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,686,281 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $76,371,000 after buying an additional 10,579 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,547 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $36,719,000 after buying an additional 222,162 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,410,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 625,824 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,792,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 623.8% during the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 516,603 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,687,000 after buying an additional 445,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

BHLB stock opened at $26.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.16 and a 200-day moving average of $27.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.76 and a 12 month high of $32.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.53.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $110.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.15%.

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.