Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 764,881 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 764,881 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.18% of Eastern Bankshares worth $29,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EBC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,551,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,026,000 after buying an additional 70,561 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,794,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,885,000 after buying an additional 634,133 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,543,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,790,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 47,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 10,670 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 1.1 %

EBC stock opened at $16.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.32. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.65 and a 52 week high of $17.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The business had revenue of $232.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.45 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EBC has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.