Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Sells $227,200.00 in Stock

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Joseph Casey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 62,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC opened at $22.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $22.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.61 and a twelve month high of $23.77.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $316.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on EBC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens downgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth $498,672,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407,066 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,552,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,048,000 after purchasing an additional 939,740 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,919,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.