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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.70.

Several equities research analysts have commented on BHLB shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the third quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of BHLB opened at $27.94 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $32.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.79%.

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.