Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Short Interest Update

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the September 30th total of 1,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 276,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% in 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. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 122,812 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,815,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,799 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,988 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $27.61 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 56.00 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 12 month low of $19.38 and a 12 month high of $28.51.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 8.61%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

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.