Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on EBC. Barclays assumed coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Cowen started coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.67.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.9%

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $18.97 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.23 and a 200 day moving average of $16.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.88 and a beta of 0.83. Eastern Bankshares has a 12-month low of $13.51 and a 12-month high of $20.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $162.26 million for the quarter. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 4.97% and a return on equity of 7.94%. As a group, research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 208.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, insider Robert Francis Rivers purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $17.21 per share, for a total transaction of $860,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 403,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,940,345.54. The trade was a 14.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 322,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total value of $6,142,332.13. Following the sale, the director directly owned 36,112 shares in the company, valued at $687,211.36. The trade was a 89.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth $79,534,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth about $34,680,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,019,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,522,000 after buying an additional 1,087,206 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,721,000. Finally, Azora Capital LP grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 54.5% in the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 2,597,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,151,000 after acquiring an additional 916,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.