Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Takes $232,000 Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,122,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,111,000 after purchasing an additional 90,293 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,786,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,064,000 after buying an additional 355,262 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,932,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,585,000 after buying an additional 259,476 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 23.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,028,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,498,000 after acquiring an additional 59,339 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

EBC opened at $15.21 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.50 and a 200-day moving average of $17.03. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.66 and a 52-week high of $19.40.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

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.