Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 783,200 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the November 15th total of 846,300 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 268,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $6,330,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 47.0% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,858 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $676,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 57.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 38,821 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 14,149 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,903 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 12,528 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:BHLB traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $29.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,976,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 261,931. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.15 and a 200 day moving average of $26.47. The company has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37 and a beta of 0.88. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.36.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 5.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 75.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.20.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Company 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.

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