Brokerages Set Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Target Price at $22.13

Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.1250.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EBC shares. Zacks Research upgraded Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David Andrew Ahlquist sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total transaction of $216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,518 shares in the company, valued at $206,064.70. The trade was a 51.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total value of $427,458.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,494.60. The trade was a 50.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 354,027 shares of company stock valued at $6,786,290. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440,017 shares in the last quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the third quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP now owns 6,408,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,272 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,311,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,884,000 after purchasing an additional 992,160 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,732,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,274,000 after purchasing an additional 31,228 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,601,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,220,000 after purchasing an additional 847,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC opened at $21.89 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.05. 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 has a 1-year low of $13.51 and a 1-year high of $22.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39 and a beta of 0.81.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $243.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.09 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 8.32%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.83%.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.