Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 25,865 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,015 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after buying an additional 25,865 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.31% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $3,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,686,281 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $76,371,000 after buying an additional 10,579 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,547 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $36,719,000 after buying an additional 222,162 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $29,410,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 625,824 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $17,792,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 623.8% during the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 516,603 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $14,687,000 after buying an additional 445,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 2.4%

BHLB traded up $0.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.04. 610,079 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,235. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.76 and a fifty-two week high of $32.36. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $110.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given 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 2.87%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.15%.

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.