Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 198,981 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 10,791 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.46% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $5,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.4% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 36,521 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 624,192 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $14,232,000 after buying an additional 38,327 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $9,636,000 after buying an additional 159,200 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $6,330,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 102,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

BHLB stock opened at $29.98 on Thursday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $32.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56 and a beta of 0.86. 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 announced its 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 previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.