AQR Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 28.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,230 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 16,509 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BHLB. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,426,599 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,422,000 after purchasing an additional 43,822 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $6,330,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 116.2% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 680,903 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,606,000 after acquiring an additional 365,952 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 422,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $9,636,000 after acquiring an additional 159,200 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 97,420 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 10,903 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 3.1 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $27.16 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.31 and a 1-year high of $28.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.32 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 144.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BHLB. Hovde Group boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp 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.