Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.75.

EBC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler started coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Hovde Group started coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ EBC opened at $20.97 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares has a 52 week low of $14.10 and a 52 week high of $22.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.27. The firm has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 51.15 and a beta of 0.76.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 8.32%.The business had revenue of $290.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.09 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 126.83%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 5,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.17 per share, for a total transaction of $95,850.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 45,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,650. This represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total transaction of $427,458.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,494.60. This trade represents a 50.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,018,000 after acquiring an additional 3,407,066 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,552,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,048,000 after acquiring an additional 939,740 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,919,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,066,000 after acquiring an additional 4,835,474 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

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.