Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.40.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BHLB. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. TheStreet lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre acquired 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.62 per share, for a total transaction of $96,018.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,446.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre acquired 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.62 per share, for a total transaction of $96,018.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,446.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nitin J. Mhatre acquired 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.54 per share, for a total transaction of $41,034.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,085,056.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 6,190 shares of company stock worth $142,028. Company insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 73.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 109,745 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,750,000 after acquiring an additional 46,291 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,141,842 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $53,675,000 after buying an additional 114,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 833,694 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $20,892,000 after buying an additional 24,503 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 96.0% during the 1st quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 61,810 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after buying an additional 30,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 17,814 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter. 80.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $20.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $907.74 million, a P/E ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.28. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a twelve month low of $18.07 and a twelve month high of $31.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 19.62% and a return on equity of 10.99%. The firm had revenue of $148.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.14%.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

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Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Berkshire Bank and Berkshire Insurance Group, Inc The firm offers deposit, lending, insurance, and wealth management products to retail and commercial customers in its market areas. It aims to expand and deepen market share and wallet share through organic growth and acquisition strategies.