Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Gets Price Target Bump from Barclays

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Barclays from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 5.08% from the company’s previous close.

EBC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price target on Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, October 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Eastern Bankshares from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastern Bankshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.14.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of EBC stock opened at $22.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.07. Eastern Bankshares has a twelve month low of $16.65 and a twelve month high of $23.77. The company has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $311.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $310.60 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. Research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Donald Westermann sold 23,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.43, for a total value of $492,997.15. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 22,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $483,567.95. This trade represents a 50.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Casey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total transaction of $227,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 62,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,190 shares of company stock worth $1,452,900. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth $498,672,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 42.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,124,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,652,000 after buying an additional 3,603,128 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 28.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,846,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,535,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at $38,188,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at $37,479,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBC) is the holding company for Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1818, Eastern Bank is one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States to have converted to public ownership.

Eastern Bank provides a range of personal and business banking products, including checking and savings accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, commercial loans, cash-management services and online banking.