Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. $BHLB

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,257,565 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 105,497 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.34% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $137,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BHLB. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,410,000. Bayview Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $9,330,000. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 134.6% during the first quarter. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC now owns 530,489 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,840,000 after buying an additional 304,376 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 79.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 537,221 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,273,000 after buying an additional 237,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 83.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 429,887 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $11,216,000 after buying an additional 195,222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 0.1%

BHLB stock opened at $25.3650 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.84. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.27 and a 52 week high of $32.36.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.34 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.75.

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.