Fmr LLC Has $302.09 Million Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Fmr LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,913,376 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned 0.09% of Eastern Bankshares worth $302,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at $25,000. PFS Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% in the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 3,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $18.64 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $11.86 and a one year high of $19.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.97%.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

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.