Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Short Interest Update

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,760,000 shares, a growth of 9.6% from the August 31st total of 3,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $24,543,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1,965.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,622,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544,181 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 worth $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,248,000 after buying an additional 576,381 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.95. 484,689 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,013,051. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares has a 1 year low of $10.65 and a 1 year high of $17.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.09 and its 200 day moving average is $14.46.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. The firm had revenue of $232.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.45 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EBC. 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 restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 29th.

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.