Eastern Bank Has $24.10 Million Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Eastern Bank lowered its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,396,823 shares of the company’s stock after selling 58,273 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $24,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in EBC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% in the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $16.73. The company had a trading volume of 490,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 725,466. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.63. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.22 and a 1-year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts.