Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

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

Separately, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,241 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.0% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 20,825 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.4% during the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 34,290 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.0% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 10,423 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 4.2% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 12,917 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $26.14 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.38. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.27 and a 52-week high of $32.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

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.

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