Atria Investments Inc Acquires 3,634 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,499 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,849,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,065,000 after acquiring an additional 764,881 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,717,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,300,000 after acquiring an additional 401,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC opened at $18.61 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.52. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.86 and a 52-week high of $19.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.02 and a beta of 0.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 18.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EBC has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted 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 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

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.