Short Interest in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Increases By 12.8%

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,130,000 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 31st total of 3,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 940,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 49,717 shares of the company's stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 8,506 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth $311,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,020,834 shares of the company's stock worth $34,859,000 after purchasing an additional 20,792 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

EBC stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.86. The company had a trading volume of 470,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,025. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.03. Eastern Bankshares has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The company has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 0.94.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. On average, equities analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.64%.

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.