Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NYSE:BHLB)

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the savings and loans company on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a payout ratio of 21.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Berkshire Hills Bancorp to earn $3.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.6%.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE:BHLB opened at $30.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.88. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a 12 month low of $20.50 and a 12 month high of $32.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.03.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.06. Berkshire Hills Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.56%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Berkshire Hills Bancorp will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Berkshire Hills Bancorp from $32.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Berkshire Hills Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.13.

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.