Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Shares Cross Below 50 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)’s stock price passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.56 and traded as low as $27.55. Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares last traded at $27.86, with a volume of 354,557 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BHLB has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 2.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.31.

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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC bought a new stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $211,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.