Jennison Associates LLC Buys 467,663 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 13.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,969,558 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 467,663 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 1.84% of Eastern Bankshares worth $65,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 worth $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company's stock worth $52,300,000 after purchasing an additional 401,027 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 764,881 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $23,849,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,064,969 shares of the company's stock worth $14,888,000 after purchasing an additional 32,741 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ EBC opened at $18.37 on Thursday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.86 and a 12-month high of $19.15. The firm's 50 day moving average is $16.93 and its 200-day moving average is $15.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EBC has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

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.