Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Stake Lowered by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,754 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 871 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BHLB. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,869 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 13,031 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BHLB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ellen Tulchiner sold 1,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $31,528.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Down 1.4 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $28.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $32.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.34.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 8.91%. As a group, analysts forecast that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.