Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,527 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,501 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 1,527 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,754 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Bank boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 12,584 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,636 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 30,221 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of BHLB opened at $21.32 on Wednesday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.07 and a twelve month high of $25.79. The company has a market capitalization of $926.57 million, a P/E ratio of 42.64 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.84 and a 200 day moving average of $22.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $169.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.89 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 3.40%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 19,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.20, for a total transaction of $436,452.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 200,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,441,198.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Baye Adofo-Wilson sold 10,074 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael Zaitzeff sold 19,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.20, for a total value of $436,452.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 200,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,441,198.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,850 shares of company stock valued at $3,437,063 over the last ninety days. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.