Fmr LLC Boosts Stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Fmr LLC raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,411 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 496 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BHLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,632,671 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $60,024,000 after acquiring an additional 36,521 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 624,192 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,232,000 after purchasing an additional 38,327 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 422,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $9,636,000 after purchasing an additional 159,200 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 126.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 183,616 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,186,000 after buying an additional 102,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.3% in 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. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BHLB opened at $27.80 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.58. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.26 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.79%.

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.