Xponance Inc. Grows Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,599 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $277,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $311,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after buying an additional 21,621 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 381,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,585,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $312,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.01 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.51 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.63 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a negative net margin of 15.56% and a positive return on equity of 6.42%. On average, analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. 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 payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 29,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,571.60. This trade represents a 7.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares 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.