Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Shares Pass Above 50-Day Moving Average of $25.28

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) shares passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.28 and traded as high as $27.71. Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares last traded at $27.48, with a volume of 245,140 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.10 and a beta of 0.88.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $174.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.46 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 3.37%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 20th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 144.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $146,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.