Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Issues Earnings Results

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) released its earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.71. 326,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 203,525. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $943.52 million, a P/E ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 0.87. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52 week low of $18.07 and a 52 week high of $25.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.19.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $1,307,093.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,104.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $1,307,093.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,104.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 224,788 shares of company stock worth $5,239,449. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,616,955 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $165,821,000 after buying an additional 126,150 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,253,783 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $152,203,000 after buying an additional 51,437 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,820,311 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $81,705,000 after buying an additional 45,304 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,352,989 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $68,166,000 after buying an additional 56,505 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,724,977 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,759,000 after buying an additional 167,243 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.