Enterprise Bank & Trust Co Grows Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Enterprise Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,234 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.5% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.1% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

NASDAQ EBC traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $16.70. 431,732 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 720,833. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.63. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.22 and a 52 week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 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 business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.69%.

Eastern Bankshares 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.