Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $23.78 and last traded at $23.4820, with a volume of 182,838 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EBC shares. DA Davidson set a $26.00 target price on Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, October 26th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens downgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.14.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.10.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The business had revenue of $311.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.60 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Investors of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Donald Westermann sold 23,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.43, for a total value of $492,997.15. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 22,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $483,567.95. The trade was a 50.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 1,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.69, for a total transaction of $40,342.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,368,229.69. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 65,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,452,900 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $498,672,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 42.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,124,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,603,128 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth $38,188,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth $37,479,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth $34,427,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBC) is the holding company for Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1818, Eastern Bank is one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States to have converted to public ownership.

Eastern Bank provides a range of personal and business banking products, including checking and savings accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, commercial loans, cash-management services and online banking.