State Street Corp Increases Stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,307 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.93% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $57,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE BHLB opened at $28.12 on Thursday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.50 and a 12-month high of $32.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $125.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.