Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Purchased by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 595.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,730,639 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,481,889 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP owned about 0.81% of Eastern Bankshares worth $28,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth $2,237,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 123.7% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 20,781 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 659.1% during the third quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 81,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,341,000 after acquiring an additional 71,053 shares during the last quarter. Kitching Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 559.5% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 327,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,366,000 after acquiring an additional 277,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

EBC opened at $18.19 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.81. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. 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 payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.