Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. $BHLB Shares Purchased by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. by 28.4%, owning 62,016 shares valued at approximately $1.62 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, also raised their positions, with hedge funds collectively owning 83.07% of the company's stock.
• Berkshire Hills Bancorp recently reported $0.69 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.58, along with a quarterly dividend yield of 2.8%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) by 28.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,016 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,707 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $1,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 130.9% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,374 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 508.7% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,413 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 3,688 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE:BHLB traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.66. 2,575,853 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 509,286. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.27 and a 52-week high of $32.36. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $25.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.02 and a beta of 0.73.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.11. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 15.93%.The company had revenue of $113.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's payout ratio is 28.13%.

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.