Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 29.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 441,143 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,538 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $12,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 105.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,380 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,595,000 after buying an additional 49,356 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 187.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 20,470 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 13,337 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,455,000 after purchasing an additional 18,307 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 61.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 190,673 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 72,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 423,307 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,035,000 after purchasing an additional 15,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.13.

Insider Transactions at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total value of $31,528.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BHLB opened at $23.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34 and a beta of 0.58. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $32.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.67 and a 200 day moving average of $28.24.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. As a group, research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

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.