Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Short Interest Up 28.2% in May

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,780,000 shares, an increase of 28.2% from the May 15th total of 5,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 891,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.6 days. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the first quarter valued at $126,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth $134,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth $164,000. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 1st quarter worth $182,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth $189,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.9 %

Eastern Bankshares stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Monday, reaching $13.23. 846,284 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 868,052. Eastern Bankshares has a 52-week low of $10.65 and a 52-week high of $15.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.50.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $230.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.52 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.59% and a net margin of 49.59%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.44%.

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.