Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Announces Earnings Results

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 11.24%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE BHLB opened at $20.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.18. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1 year low of $18.07 and a 1 year high of $25.79. The company has a market cap of $911.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.87.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 45.00%.

Insider Activity at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $1,307,093.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,104.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $1,307,093.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,104.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 224,788 shares of company stock valued at $5,239,449 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $11,809,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 304.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 286,657 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,184,000 after acquiring an additional 215,810 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,724,977 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $35,759,000 after acquiring an additional 167,243 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,616,955 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $165,821,000 after acquiring an additional 126,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,141,842 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $53,675,000 after acquiring an additional 114,148 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHLB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 10th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.