Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Short Interest Up 5.6% in October

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the September 30th total of 1,080,000 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 276,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Hovde Group increased their target price on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.80.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Up 0.3 %

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock opened at $27.32 on Friday. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a twelve month low of $20.02 and a twelve month high of $28.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74 and a beta of 0.86.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last issued 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. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is 75.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 233.3% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $104,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 58.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,879 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $146,000. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC purchased a new position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.