Systematic Financial Management LP Acquires 114,433 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 13.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,433 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP owned about 2.22% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $25,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,330,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 60.4% during the second 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 during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $623,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $215,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BHLB opened at $30.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26 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 $28.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.05. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $32.36.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp 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.