Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 22,454 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) by 11.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,935 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $5,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 142.7% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,291 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 805.3% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2,259.4% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,265 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Man Group plc bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:BHLB traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.44. 377,669 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 415,061. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.27 and a 12 month high of $32.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.50 and a 200 day moving average of $26.33.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.71 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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 paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's payout ratio is 29.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $31.00 price target 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 and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.17.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp 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.