Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $19.15 and last traded at $19.06, with a volume of 60714 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.66 and a 200 day moving average of $15.29.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced 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 return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EBC. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 112,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,836,000 after acquiring an additional 22,048 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,913,376 shares in the last quarter. Boston Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $468,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at about $256,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.