Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $30.21 and last traded at $30.06, with a volume of 6209 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BHLB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 3.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $27.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.95.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 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 net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 8.68%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 75.79%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 137,820 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $3,711,000 after buying an additional 6,968 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 13,031 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.