Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.29 and last traded at $19.23, with a volume of 68316 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 1.4 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.97%.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 815,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,367,000 after purchasing an additional 65,540 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,849,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 27.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 171,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after buying an additional 36,743 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

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.