Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.29 and last traded at $19.23, with a volume of 68316 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.13 and its 200 day moving average is $15.66.

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 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. 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 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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. State Street Corp grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,203,000 after acquiring an additional 859,136 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.