The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 155,891 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,367,685 shares of the company’s stock after selling 155,891 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.77% of Eastern Bankshares worth $19,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at about $390,000. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at about $1,184,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at about $150,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 201.0% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 49,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 33,151 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 51,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 10,042 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $15.83 on Wednesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.65 and a 1 year high of $17.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.08 and its 200 day moving average is $14.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The company had revenue of $232.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.45 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 48.38% and a return on equity of 5.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.44%.

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.