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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 882,900 shares, a growth of 12.7% from the November 30th total of 783,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 325,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BHLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 190,673 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 72,402 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 105.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,380 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,595,000 after acquiring an additional 49,356 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,058 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $971,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,664,138 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $44,815,000 after acquiring an additional 293,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,455,000 after purchasing an additional 18,307 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BHLB traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.43. 433,537 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 278,941. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52-week low of $20.50 and a 52-week high of $32.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.49 and its 200-day moving average is $27.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93 and a beta of 0.88.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $125.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 75.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BHLB shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.70.

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.