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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.13.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $31,528.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,257,565 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $137,170,000 after purchasing an additional 105,497 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $76,371,000 after buying an additional 10,579 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 20.8% in the fourth 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 period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,410,000. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP lifted 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 acquiring an additional 47,234 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BHLB opened at $25.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 0.53. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1-year low of $20.76 and a 1-year high of $32.36. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.72.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. 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.