Hovde Group Increases Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Price Target to $31.00

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) had its price objective lifted by Hovde Group from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the savings and loans company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $26.50.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 0.8 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $27.34 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1-year low of $18.31 and a 1-year high of $27.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.68 and a beta of 0.88.

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 will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 20th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $146,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. Teton Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.