TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Price

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) had its price target upped by TD Cowen from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

EBC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.13.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC stock opened at $20.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of 49.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.75. Eastern Bankshares has a 52 week low of $13.51 and a 52 week high of $20.89.

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

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.83%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 322,771 shares of Eastern Bankshares 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 36,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $687,211.36. This trade represents a 89.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 8,112.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,947 shares during the last quarter. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 36.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 584 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 90.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at $49,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.