Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Dark Forest Capital Management LP

Dark Forest Capital Management LP lowered its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 70.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,256 shares of the company's stock after selling 95,190 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 836.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 3,791 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $178,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, CFO R David Rosato bought 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ EBC traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $14.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,178,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,084,333. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.16. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.54 and a 52 week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is 71.64%.

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.