Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Reaches New 1-Year High at $28.11

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $28.11 and last traded at $28.07, with a volume of 141790 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BHLB shares. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Up 1.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 55.70 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.59.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 8.61%. The business had revenue of $174.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 144.00%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 116.2% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 680,903 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,606,000 after purchasing an additional 365,952 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,963,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,330,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 272.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 83,050 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 60,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 397,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 53,162 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.