Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 525 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,229 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 525 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $527,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grace & White Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 199,349 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,967 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 4,287 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $534,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In related news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 29,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.09, for a total value of $671,041.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 127,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,935,824.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 29,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.09, for a total transaction of $671,041.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 127,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,935,824.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the firm’s 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 152,850 shares of company stock valued at $3,437,063. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BHLB. 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. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $22.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $971.77 million, a P/E ratio of 44.72 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.33. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.07 and a 52 week high of $25.79.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio 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.