Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) Stock

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $32.00 to $34.50 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.38% from the stock’s current price.

BHLB has been the topic of several other reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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, Piper Sandler raised Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.70.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $28.66 on Tuesday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52 week low of $20.50 and a 52 week high of $32.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 0.88.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BHLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,632,671 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $60,024,000 after buying an additional 36,521 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,455,000 after purchasing an additional 18,307 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 21.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,664,138 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $44,815,000 after purchasing an additional 293,784 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $25,654,000 after purchasing an additional 114,433 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 624,192 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,232,000 after purchasing an additional 38,327 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently 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.