Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Sells $40,342.82 in Stock

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Joseph Casey sold 1,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.69, for a total transaction of $40,342.82. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,368,229.69. This trade represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of EBC opened at $22.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.97. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.61 and a 1-year high of $23.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66 and a beta of 0.68.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 25.12%.The firm had revenue of $316.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.20 million. Equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 34.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on EBC. Wall Street Zen raised Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastern Bankshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth about $498,672,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 holdings 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 buying an additional 3,407,066 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 10.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.