Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Upgraded by Seaport Res Ptn to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s Q1 2025 earnings at $0.53 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.48 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $29.13 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.66 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.52. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52 week low of $20.50 and a 52 week high of $32.36.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 75.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $25,654,000 after buying an additional 114,433 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 422,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $9,636,000 after buying an additional 159,200 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $623,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC increased its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 178.9% during the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 32,327 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $871,000 after buying an additional 20,736 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.