Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.13.

Separately, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE BHLB traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.62. 366,706 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,859. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a one year low of $21.16 and a one year high of $32.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.69. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 15.02%. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's payout ratio is 29.15%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 129,923 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $3,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 204,481 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $5,813,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $822,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,044,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 282.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.