Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Stock Passes Below Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)’s share price passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.56 and traded as low as $27.55. Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares last traded at $27.86, with a volume of 354,557 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHLB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on 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. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Four equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.70.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.31.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 75.79%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $676,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 33.5% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,903 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 12,528 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 valued at $14,232,000 after buying an additional 38,327 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $104,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 valued at $60,024,000 after buying an additional 36,521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Company 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.