Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires Shares of 13,397 Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,205,000 after acquiring an additional 65,764 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after buying an additional 467,663 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 8.7% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 815,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,367,000 after buying an additional 65,540 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,754,000 after buying an additional 1,170,276 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.92. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.13.

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 4.49%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. 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. 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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.