Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Acquired by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,797 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $277,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $311,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 49,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $858,000 after acquiring an additional 8,506 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 21,621 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 381,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,585,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total value of $36,628.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 29,011 shares in the company, valued at $452,571.60. This trade represents a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of EBC opened at $15.69 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.51 and a 12 month high of $19.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $15.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.14 and a beta of 0.94.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a positive return on equity of 6.42% and a negative net margin of 15.56%. The company had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. Analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -80.00%.

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.