Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Stock Position Increased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 962.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 179,779 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 162,850 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $5,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 282.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 805.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2,259.4% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 57.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,869 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $31,528.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $24.92 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.76 and a 1-year high of $32.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 0.58.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $110.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

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.