Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Price

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Barclays from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 15.55% from the stock’s previous close.

EBC has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.50.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of EBC traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $19.91. The company had a trading volume of 416,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,035,210. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.54 and a beta of 0.76. Eastern Bankshares has a 1 year low of $13.79 and a 1 year high of $22.58.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $290.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.09 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 8.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.17 per share, with a total value of $95,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 45,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,650. This represents a 12.50% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total value of $427,458.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,494.60. This trade represents a 50.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407,066 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,552,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,048,000 after purchasing an additional 939,740 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,919,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,304 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.