Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 279,768 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 10% from the previous session’s volume of 254,589 shares.The stock last traded at $29.70 and had previously closed at $30.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BHLB. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. 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 on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.52. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.66 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 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 return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BHLB. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $25,654,000 after purchasing an additional 114,433 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% during 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 position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $623,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Finally, PDT Partners LLC increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 178.9% in the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 32,327 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $871,000 after acquiring an additional 20,736 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.