Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $19.29 and last traded at $19.23, with a volume of 68316 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EBC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.04 and a 200-day moving average of $15.59.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. FMR LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,085,000 after buying an additional 4,913,376 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 595.7% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,730,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,889 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth $23,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts.