Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $21.71 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $18.07 and a fifty-two week high of $25.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $943.52 million, a P/E ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.19.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BHLB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total transaction of $495,292.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 288,483 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,184.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $223,542.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 20,028 shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.73, for a total transaction of $495,292.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 288,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,134,184.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 224,788 shares of company stock worth $5,239,449 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $57,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $57,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 304.1% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,538 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $119,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.