Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) President Quincy Lee Miller Sells 33,000 Shares of Company Stock

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) President Quincy Miller sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.88, for a total value of $755,040.00. Following the sale, the president directly owned 33,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $767,349.44. This trade represents a 49.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $23.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.03 and a 52-week high of $23.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.70.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $311.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.60 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. Equities research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.48%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 70.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,810 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 13.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 213,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 24,680 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 51.0% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 46,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 15,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 60.8% in the third quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $663,000 after acquiring an additional 11,985 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EBC shares. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson set a $26.00 target price on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.14.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston. The company provides personal and business banking services, including deposit accounts, loans, cash management and digital banking.

Through its banking and affiliated businesses, Eastern also offers commercial lending, wealth management and insurance services. Its operations primarily serve businesses, individuals and organizations in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

Eastern Bank traces its roots to 1818 and operated as a mutual bank for more than two centuries before becoming publicly traded in 2020.