Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. Has $945,000 Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,196,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 112.1% in the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,666,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409,471 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,080,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,638,000 after acquiring an additional 960,591 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,499,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 203.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 900,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,533,000 after acquiring an additional 603,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,011 shares in the company, valued at $452,571.60. The trade was a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $14.94 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.83. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30 and a beta of 0.97. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.66 and a twelve month high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is -80.00%.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.