Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the savings and loans company on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a payout ratio of 21.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Berkshire Hills Bancorp to earn $3.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.0%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 1.3 %

BHLB stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.04. 84,312 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 381,060. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 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 has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.36. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.06.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BHLB shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.13.

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.