Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $277,000 Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 16,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,205,000 after purchasing an additional 65,764 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,276 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,088,000 after acquiring an additional 86,810 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,203,000 after acquiring an additional 859,136 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $511,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.76 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.35. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.22 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01 and a beta of 0.95.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results 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%. Research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 71.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Eastern Bankshares 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.