Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) CEO Nitin J. Mhatre Purchases 1,100 Shares

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) CEO Nitin J. Mhatre acquired 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $22.02 per share, for a total transaction of $24,222.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 88,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,955,353.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $22.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $959.60 million, a PE ratio of 44.16 and a beta of 0.87. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.07 and a 12 month high of $25.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.25.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The company had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,525,556 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $62,711,000 after buying an additional 20,328 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,426,599 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,422,000 after purchasing an additional 43,822 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 397,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 53,162 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 361,890 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $8,986,000 after purchasing an additional 6,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,963,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BHLB. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

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.