20,300 Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Bought by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 20,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $350,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EBC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,122,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,111,000 after buying an additional 90,293 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,786,337 shares of the company's stock valued at $324,064,000 after purchasing an additional 355,262 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,028,897 shares of the company's stock worth $69,498,000 after purchasing an additional 59,339 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,505,539 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,221,000 after purchasing an additional 60,746 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at $37,196,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato bought 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC traded down $1.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $14.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,053,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,079,940. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04 and a beta of 0.96. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.54 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The business's 50 day moving average price is $16.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.15.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.