Citigroup Inc. Sells 40,715 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Citigroup Inc. lowered its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 19.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 172,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,715 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 417,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,570,000 after purchasing an additional 90,779 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 12.1% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 33,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 3,604 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 7.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,393,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,300,000 after buying an additional 95,731 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 6.0% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 134,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after buying an additional 7,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 22.6% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,150,000 after buying an additional 184,460 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $19.42 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.51 and a 1 year high of $22.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.72. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.37 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $290.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.09 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 8.32% and a return on equity of 8.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 126.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 20,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,494.60. This represents a 50.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO David Andrew Ahlquist sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total value of $216,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,064.70. This represents a 51.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EBC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays initiated coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.13.

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.