CORRECTION: Blog Coverage Berkshire Hills Announces Acquisition of Commerce Bancshares Corp. as it Sets to Strengthen its Boston Presence

CORRECTION to Article Published on May 24, 2017: We wish to rectify an important aspect of yesterday’s publication wherein Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. and Commerce Bancshares Corp. announced a merger agreement. Commerce Bancshares Corp. was wrongly tagged with the ticker CBSH, while this ticker is assigned to Commerce Bancshares Inc., which trades on the NASDAQ and is headquartered in Kansas, Missouri. Commerce Bancshares Inc. is not in any way linked to the covered news and we apologize for any confusion caused by our article. A corrected copy of the article ensues:

Upcoming AWS Coverage on Provident Financial Services Post-Earnings Results

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2017 / Active Wall St. blog coverage looks at the headline from Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) and Commerce Bancshares Corp. as both companies announced on May 22, 2017, that they have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Berkshire will acquire Commerce and its subsidiary, Commerce Bank and Trust, in an all-stock transaction, valued at $209 million. Register with us now for your free membership and blog access at:

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One of Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s competitors within the Savings & Loans space, Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFS), announced on April 28, 2017, its earnings results for Q1 2017 and also declared quarterly cash dividend. AWS will be initiating a research report on Provident Financial Services in the coming days.

Today, AWS is promoting its blog coverage on BHLB; touching on PFS. Get all of our free blog coverage and more by clicking on the link below:

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The Announcement

Berkshire views this agreement as a step to achieve greater operational efficiency. The addition of the Commerce team will enable the Company to leverage the strength of both the banks and capitalize on growth opportunities in the attractive, high-growth Central and Eastern Massachusetts markets. Berkshire recently announced that it would move the Company’s headquarters in the market.

This collaboration will enable Commerce Bank to serve as a catalyst to the largest regional bank headquartered in Boston, and noticeably, the first regional bank in two decades to have downtown headquarters. This development paves way for multiple synergies and opportunities to attract talent and capitalize on our previous Eastern Massachusetts growth and the strong Commerce core banking franchise.

Commerce Banshares

Currently based in Worcester, Massachusetts, Commerce Bank was founded in 1955 and acquired in 1993 by David “Duddie” Massad. Serving as a community bank in the Worcester and Boston areas, the bank has approximately $2.2 billion in assets and 16 branches. The bank offers middle-market lending, specialty finance services, and maintains relationships with multiple Payroll Service Bureau customers.

Commerce Bancshares reported $1.5 billion in loans and $2.0 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2017. This merger includes thirteen branches in the Worcester area and three branches in Boston and offers the catalyst for Berkshire to move its corporate headquarters to Boston.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Growth Prospects

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has been moving to a paperless economy recently, and on April 22, 2017, the Company announced to have exceeded the first of their sustainability objectives through AMEB Green, a corporate initiative aimed at developing the firm into an environmentally sustainable Company. The Company committed to reducing paper consumption by 10% by 2018 and surpassed that mark reducing usage by 15% a full year earlier than projected. Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s total assets are expected to increase to $12 billion including the $2.2 billion acquired Commerce Bancshares’ assets.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp recently announced the grand opening of its Boston brand at 121 Congress Street on May 15, 2017. The Company recently introduced MyBanker, a concierge banking program and its new My Teller experience. While MyBanker provides perks and priority service to everyone regardless of income, savings or wealth, and is not limited to a physical branch location. My Teller is a next-generation banking that combines technology and convenience of an ATM with the human touch of a teller utilizing Interactive Teller Machine technology.

Stock Performance

On May 22, 2017, Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s share price finished the trading session at $36.65, rising 2.95%. A total volume of 475.74 thousand shares exchanged hands, which was higher than the 3 months average volume of 186.88 thousand shares. The stock has advanced 2.52% and 10.39% in the last month and in the last six months, respectively. Additionally, the stock has soared 36.70% past twelve months. The stock is trading at a PE ratio of 20.30 and has a dividend yield of 2.29%. The stock currently has a market cap of $1.32 billion.

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