Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) CAO David Andrew Ahlquist Sells 10,000 Shares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) CAO David Andrew Ahlquist sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,064.70. The trade was a 51.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 1.6%

EBC stock traded down $0.34 during trading on Thursday, reaching $21.45. 2,805,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,268,152. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.98. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.32 and a beta of 0.81. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.51 and a 1 year high of $22.58.

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

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 126.83%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. HoldCo Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% during the third quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP now owns 6,408,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,272 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,311,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,884,000 after buying an additional 992,160 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 0.7% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 48.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,601,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,220,000 after buying an additional 847,891 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 price objective on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Friday, December 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.