Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,375 shares of the company’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EBC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 988,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,300,000 after acquiring an additional 28,308 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,557 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 95,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 34,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 320,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,896,000 after acquiring an additional 181,044 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ EBC opened at $12.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.85. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $9.93 and a one year high of $15.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.04.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $160.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $153.53 million. Analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 40,288 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.08, for a total value of $526,967.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $549,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts.