Teton Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 9,660 Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Teton Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,660 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $202,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $219,000. Berkshire Bank boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 12,584 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,967 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 4,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BHLB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.02, for a total transaction of $451,410.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 87,947 shares in the company, valued at $1,936,592.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.02, for a total transaction of $451,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 87,947 shares in the company, valued at $1,936,592.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,850 shares of company stock worth $3,437,063. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 1.7 %

BHLB traded up $0.38 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.29. 137,485 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 239,497. The stock has a market cap of $968.72 million, a P/E ratio of 43.82 and a beta of 0.87. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.07 and a twelve month high of $25.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 144.00%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp 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.