Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $23.78 and last traded at $23.6960, with a volume of 296727 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EBC. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, August 7th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Stephens cut shares of 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.68.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $316.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 25.12%. Research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total transaction of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,475 shares in the company, valued at $464,987.25. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

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