Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,909 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,070 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Eastern Bankshares worth $2,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 0.9% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 257,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 291,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,068,000 after buying an additional 24,188 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,065,000 after buying an additional 764,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ EBC traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.69. 972,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 800,594. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.88 and a 200 day moving average of $16.63. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

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.