Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, a decline of 7.7% from the September 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 299,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Hovde Group increased their price target on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. nVerses Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $146,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

BHLB traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $28.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 196,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,681. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 56.76 and a beta of 0.86. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52 week low of $18.31 and a 52 week high of $28.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.62 and its 200-day moving average is $24.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 3.37%. The firm had revenue of $174.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 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.