Piper Sandler Begins Coverage on Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC)

Stock analysts at Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.05% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on EBC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Eastern Bankshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.30.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

EBC traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $19.00. The stock had a trading volume of 147,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,085,378. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.35 and a beta of 0.81. Eastern Bankshares has a 1-year low of $13.51 and a 1-year high of $22.58.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.17 per share, for a total transaction of $95,850.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 45,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,650. This represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total transaction of $427,458.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,494.60. This represents a 50.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. HoldCo Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $79,534,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,066,000 after buying an additional 4,835,474 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,018,000 after buying an additional 3,407,066 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at $34,680,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.