Brokerages Set Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Price Target at $26.80

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.80.

BHLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Hovde Group lifted 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. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $146,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,858 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $25.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.46 and a 200-day moving average of $24.07. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 12-month low of $18.31 and a 12-month high of $28.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.70 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $174.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.46 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 3.37%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.00%.

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.