Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $31.80 and last traded at $31.62, with a volume of 12387 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BHLB. Hovde Group boosted their price target on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of 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 upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.11.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $125.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 75.79%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,799 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,988 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,753 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.