Impax Asset Management Group plc Boosts Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 8.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 815,540 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 65,540 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $13,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of EBC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% during the 3rd 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. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1,383.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 5,478 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.24 and a twelve month high of $17.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released 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 4.76%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 18.97%.

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.