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

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) experienced a significant rise in short interest in January. As of January 15th, the total short interest reached 1,630,000 shares, marking an increase of 84.6% compared to the 882,900 shares reported on December 31st. Currently, 3.6% of the company's total shares are sold short. Given the average daily trading volume of 348,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio stands at approximately 4.7 days.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Stock Performance

On Wednesday, Berkshire Hills Bancorp's stock price declined by $0.27, bringing it down to $28.56. The trading volume for the day was 621,591 shares, which is higher than the average volume of 403,327. Over the past year, the stock has experienced a low of $20.50 and a high of $32.36. Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06. With a beta of 0.89, the company has a fifty-day moving average price of $29.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.91. Its current ratio and quick ratio are both at 0.98, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Announces Dividend

Recently, Berkshire Hills Bancorp announced that it would pay a quarterly dividend on November 27th. Shareholders who were on record as of November 14th received a dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was also November 14th. This results in an annualized dividend of $0.72, which provides a yield of 2.52%. Currently, the company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Opinions

Several analysts have shared their views on Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares. On December 17th, the Royal Bank of Canada reduced its target price from $32.00 to $31.00 while maintaining a "sector perform" rating. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded the rating from "hold" to "strong-buy" on December 16th, the same day Piper Sandler did the same. Meanwhile, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target from $32.00 to $34.50 and assigned a "market perform" rating. Currently, four analysts rate the stock as a hold, one as a buy, and two as strong buy. According to MarketBeat.com, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Recently, various institutional investors and hedge funds have made changes to their holdings in Berkshire Hills Bancorp. During the 3rd quarter, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake valued at around $34,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake by 233.3%, now owning 2,000 shares worth about $54,000 after acquiring 1,400 additional shares. KBC Group NV raised its investment by 57.8% in the 4th quarter, owning 2,869 shares valued at $82,000 after obtaining 1,051 more shares. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. also saw an increase of 58.5%, bringing their total to 5,879 shares worth about $134,000. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC bought into the company for about $204,000 in the 4th quarter. In total, institutional investors and hedge funds hold 83.07% of the company's stock.

About Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Berkshire Bank. The bank offers a wide range of banking products and services across the United States. This includes various deposit accounts such as demand deposit, interest-bearing checking, regular savings, money market savings, time certificates of deposit, and retirement deposit accounts.

Berkshire, Stocks, Dividends