Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) released its earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The firm had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BHLB opened at $21.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $943.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 0.87. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1-year low of $18.07 and a 1-year high of $25.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.19.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 144.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $495,292.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 288,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,184.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $495,292.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 288,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,134,184.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $223,542.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,788 shares of company stock worth $5,239,449. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 8,909 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 3,198 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $217,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,291 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.