State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires Shares of 118,564 Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 118,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,943,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.05% of Eastern Bankshares at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $126,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 18.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,330 shares of the company's stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 6,514 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 103,320 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 5,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company's stock worth $52,300,000 after acquiring an additional 401,027 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $19.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC traded up $0.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $18.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 914,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,011,871. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.86 and a 12 month high of $19.15. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $16.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.41.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.97%.

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.