Barclays PLC Increases Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 284.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 617,306 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 456,586 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.29% of Eastern Bankshares worth $10,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $18.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.09. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS 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 return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.12 dividend. This is an increase 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 2.60%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

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.