Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So we’ve got a few tools to try to offset some of that. But we’re not immune to what’s going on in the markets and in particular in the deposit markets. I think we’ll see loans reprice up. We’ve been continuing to shrink the cash flows off the portfolio. That’s providing a little funding for loan growth. But we have to remain competitive on the deposit side and work through this cycle.Nitin Mhatre Chris, I would just add, and I think I’m connecting your question back to the question, the first question in the queue as well. I think there are levers that David just highlighted I think that we have in the toolbox. We’re still expecting to meet the NII guidance. The NIM is relatively less controllable. But the NII is, and we still focused on staying with that guidance.Chris O’Connell Yes, I hear you.

I appreciate the color on that. And last one for me, how are you guys thinking about utilizing the buyback going forward? Obviously, the shares are down and it looks more attractive probably to use, but it’s a difficult market environment. So do you guys intend to be active in the near term or pause a bit here and kind of make some decisions as the environment progresses throughout the year?David Rosato Yes. Chris, it’s David. So we had very moderate activity in Q1. Let’s say the quarter prior to SVB stock price, our stock price was obviously higher in the last three weeks of the quarter. Based on the average price we paid, you can probably figure out when we bought those shares. But they were modest. I would suggest that we’ll be in the market in the second quarter and in the back half of the year.

We’re in an environment where capital is highly important, right, because economic uncertainty is there. But we’re also trading at 1.1x tangible book value. So we think our stock is very compelling. So we’re balancing the desire to buy a lot versus the need to harbor capital for economic uncertainty. And then that’s an active discussion that we have internally and we have with our Board as well, as you can imagine.Chris O’Connell Great. Thanks for taking my questions.David Rosato Anytime, thanks.Operator Thank you. At this time, we have no further questions. I’ll hand back over to the management team for any closing remarks.Nitin Mhatre Thank you for joining us today on our call and for your interest in Berkshire. Have a great day and be well.

Charlie, you can close the call now.Operator Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.