Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,792 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 1,726 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp worth $5,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BHLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,525,556 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $62,711,000 after buying an additional 20,328 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,426,599 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,422,000 after buying an additional 43,822 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 15.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 397,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 53,162 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 361,890 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $8,986,000 after buying an additional 6,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,963,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

BHLB traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.24. 22,248 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 235,936. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $962.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.00 and a beta of 0.88. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.31 and a 1 year high of $25.79.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company had revenue of $169.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

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.