Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 2,887 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 301,626 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,887 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.14% of Eastern Bankshares worth $5,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 142,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,451,000 after acquiring an additional 53,871 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,028,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,498,000 after purchasing an additional 59,339 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 479.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 36,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Enterprise Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 24,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

EBC opened at $17.67 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.29.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 71.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.