Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Price Target to $34.50

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) had its target price raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $32.00 to $34.50 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the savings and loans company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BHLB. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.70.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE BHLB opened at $28.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $32.36.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,411 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,799 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,423 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently 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.