Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,791 Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,981 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 10,791 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp were worth $5,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BHLB. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,411 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 4.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,799 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,423 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BHLB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.70.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $28.43 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.51 and its 200 day moving average is $27.08. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $32.36. 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 cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.93 and a beta of 0.88.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $125.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.61 million. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.79%.

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.