Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 3.40%. The firm had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.89 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of BHLB traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.71. 326,085 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 203,525. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $943.52 million, a PE ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 0.87. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $18.07 and a fifty-two week high of $25.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.19.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on BHLB shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Activity at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In related news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $1,307,093.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,104.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $1,307,093.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,665 shares in the company, valued at $67,104.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 224,788 shares of company stock valued at $5,239,449 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,616,955 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $165,821,000 after buying an additional 126,150 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,253,783 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $152,203,000 after purchasing an additional 51,437 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,820,311 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $81,705,000 after purchasing an additional 45,304 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,352,989 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $68,166,000 after purchasing an additional 56,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,724,977 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,759,000 after purchasing an additional 167,243 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Company 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.