Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Price Target to $31.00

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 4.06% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BHLB traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $29.79. 349,841 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 261,793. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $32.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.36 and a beta of 0.88.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.03. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $25,654,000 after purchasing an additional 114,433 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 422,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $9,636,000 after buying an additional 159,200 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $623,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 178.9% in the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 32,327 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 20,736 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

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.