Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Given New $34.50 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) had its price target hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $32.00 to $34.50 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the savings and loans company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on BHLB. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.70.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $28.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.81. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $32.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its earnings results 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. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,632,671 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $60,024,000 after purchasing an additional 36,521 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,455,000 after buying an additional 18,307 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,664,138 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $44,815,000 after acquiring an additional 293,784 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $25,654,000 after acquiring an additional 114,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 worth $14,232,000 after acquiring an additional 38,327 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.