LSV Asset Management Acquires 279,071 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 777.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 314,951 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 279,071 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $7,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.8% in the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,754 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.5% in the third quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 12,584 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 30,221 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 208,947 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,189,000 after buying an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,718 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.73, for a total value of $470,920.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 156,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,550,630.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.73, for a total transaction of $470,920.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 156,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,550,630.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,190 shares of company stock worth $3,000,611 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BHLB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $22.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $987.94 million, a P/E ratio of 45.46 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.31 and a 12 month high of $25.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.38.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.00%.

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.