Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 971 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1,250.4% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 535,017 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,253,000 after buying an additional 495,398 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $5,610,000. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 84.3% in the second quarter. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC now owns 213,674 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,293,000 after buying an additional 97,763 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 318.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 100,400 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after buying an additional 76,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 95.7% in the second quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 118,440 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,934,000 after buying an additional 57,918 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.73% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BHLB opened at $28.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $30.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.62 and a 12-month high of $31.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 0.99.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.04. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.74% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $108.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.25 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 17th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. This is a positive change from Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 16th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler cut Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, October 14th. TheStreet upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, November 7th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.25.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Company Profile

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Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Berkshire Bank that provides various banking products and services. It offers various deposit accounts, including demand deposit, NOW, regular savings, money market savings, time certificates of deposit, and retirement deposit accounts; and loans, such as commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, consumer, and residential mortgage loans.