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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, a decline of 7.7% from the September 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 299,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

BHLB traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $28.34. The company had a trading volume of 196,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,681. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1 year low of $18.31 and a 1 year high of $28.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.76 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 (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $174.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. nVerses Capital LLC lifted 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 worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $146,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.