Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $23.78 and last traded at $23.4820, with a volume of 182,838 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $23.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EBC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price objective on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Hovde Group boosted their price target 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.14.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.72 and a 200-day moving average of $21.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

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

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 34.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, insider Donald Westermann sold 23,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.43, for a total value of $492,997.15. Following the sale, the insider owned 22,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $483,567.95. This trade represents a 50.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 62,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 65,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,452,900. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth $498,672,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,603,128 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,188,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,479,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,427,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.