Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.89 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $21.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $943.52 million, a PE ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 12 month low of $18.07 and a 12 month high of $25.79.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $495,292.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 288,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,134,184.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total value of $495,292.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 288,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,134,184.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 224,788 shares of company stock valued at $5,239,449 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 22.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,833 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 16.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,357 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.9% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 47,577 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 14.9% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 14,862 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 66.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 31,848 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 12,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

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.