Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) to Issue $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the savings and loans company on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a payout ratio of 21.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Berkshire Hills Bancorp to earn $3.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.0%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $29.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $28.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.14. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 12-month low of $20.50 and a 12-month high of $32.36.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Research analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $31,528.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.02% 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.