502,120 Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC Bought by Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 502,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,167,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $498,672,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,440,017 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,018,000 after acquiring an additional 3,407,066 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 worth $176,048,000 after acquiring an additional 939,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,919,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,304 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EBC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 27th. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six research 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC stock opened at $22.40 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.61 and a 1 year high of $23.77. The firm has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $316.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 25.12%. Analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 62,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total value of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $464,987.25. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,197 shares of company stock worth $809,724. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.