Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Position Raised by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 43.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,786 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,995 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $277,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,815,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,316,000 after purchasing an additional 223,681 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 3,049.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 29,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 28,821 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,196,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $311,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 1.2%

EBC stock opened at $15.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.48 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.30 and a 200-day moving average of $16.12. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.51 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 6.49%. The business had revenue of $249.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.32 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is -80.00%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

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