Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Short Interest Update

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, a growth of 84.6% from the December 31st total of 882,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 348,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.13.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

Berkshire Hills Bancorp stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.56. 621,591 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 403,327. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.13 and its 200-day moving average is $27.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.89. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 52 week low of $20.50 and a 52 week high of $32.36.

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 dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.79%.

Institutional Trading of Berkshire Hills Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,119,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,455,000 after buying an additional 18,307 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,664,138 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $44,815,000 after buying an additional 293,784 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 952,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $25,654,000 after buying an additional 114,433 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 340,694 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $9,175,000 after purchasing an additional 75,476 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $6,672,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.