Atom Investors LP Has $1.28 Million Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Atom Investors LP lessened its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 77.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,319 shares of the company's stock after selling 262,902 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP's holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EBC. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company's stock worth $302,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,913,376 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,849,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,065,000 after buying an additional 764,881 shares during the period. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,717,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EBC traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.19. The stock had a trading volume of 747,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,648. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.22 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.81. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on EBC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.