Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three 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. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.13.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Insider Transactions at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total value of $31,528.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 10,579 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,547 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $36,719,000 after buying an additional 222,162 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $29,410,000. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 999,861 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $28,426,000 after buying an additional 47,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 665,007 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,906,000 after acquiring an additional 7,564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 2.2 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.81. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $20.76 and a fifty-two week high of $32.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.53.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

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.