44,990 Shares in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 44,990 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $1,279,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.10% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 105.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,380 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,595,000 after acquiring an additional 49,356 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,869 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 144,832 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $4,118,000 after acquiring an additional 7,012 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 129,923 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $3,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,763 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 204,481 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $5,813,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of BHLB traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $25.00. The company had a trading volume of 398,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 392,495. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $24.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36 and a beta of 0.53. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.76 and a 1 year high of $32.36.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $110.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's payout ratio is 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.