Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 17,051 Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,051 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BHLB. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,547 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $36,719,000 after purchasing an additional 222,162 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 625,824 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $17,792,000 after acquiring an additional 2,694 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $14,687,000 after buying an additional 445,228 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 441,143 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $12,542,000 after acquiring an additional 99,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 423,307 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $12,035,000 after buying an additional 15,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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 report on Monday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total value of $31,528.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

BHLB traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.56. The stock had a trading volume of 313,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 374,660. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.73. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.76 and a 12 month high of $32.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $109.71 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.15%.

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.