Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,077 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,616,955 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $165,821,000 after buying an additional 126,150 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,253,783 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $152,203,000 after buying an additional 51,437 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,820,311 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $81,705,000 after buying an additional 45,304 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,352,989 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $68,166,000 after buying an additional 56,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 10.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,724,977 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,759,000 after purchasing an additional 167,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Berkshire Hills Bancorp

In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $1,307,093.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,104.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Berkshire Hills Bancorp news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $223,542.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 51,910 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $1,307,093.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,104.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,788 shares of company stock valued at $5,239,449. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHLB has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BHLB stock opened at $21.71 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.07 and a 12-month high of $25.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $943.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 45.00%.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

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.