Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Shares Purchased by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 30.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,465 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 282.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 142.7% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,291 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 805.3% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2,259.4% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BHLB opened at $26.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.44. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.27 and a 1 year high of $32.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.