Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,000,042 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 329,133 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.93% of Eastern Bankshares worth $32,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company's stock worth $6,205,000 after acquiring an additional 65,764 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth approximately $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company's stock worth $65,061,000 after acquiring an additional 467,663 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 8.7% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 815,540 shares of the company's stock worth $13,367,000 after acquiring an additional 65,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth approximately $23,849,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EBC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.7 %

Eastern Bankshares stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.19. 747,556 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 998,648. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.92. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $17.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.81. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.97%.

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.