Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on EBC. Seaport Research Partners reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens downgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ EBC opened at $22.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Eastern Bankshares has a 12-month low of $16.50 and a 12-month high of $23.77.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $316.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 34.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total value of $38,834.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $464,987.25. This represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 62,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. This trade represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 33,419 shares of company stock worth $769,381 in the last ninety days. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EBC. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $309,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 2,062.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,790,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,776,000 after purchasing an additional 5,522,534 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth about $77,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth about $380,000. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth about $211,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

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.