Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $358,000 Investment in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,600 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BHLB. Barclays PLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $6,672,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,012 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BHLB traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.28. 390,942 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 383,005. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.76 and a 12-month high of $32.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 0.53. The business's fifty day moving average price is $25.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.69.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.71 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.