Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp cut its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,217 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,205,000 after buying an additional 65,764 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at about $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,061,000 after buying an additional 467,663 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 8.7% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 815,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,367,000 after acquiring an additional 65,540 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $23,849,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the transaction, the director now owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $17.33 on Thursday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.22 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.26.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.