Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Grows Stock Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 12.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,339,389 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 260,361 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $38,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EBC. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth about $522,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company's stock worth $6,205,000 after purchasing an additional 65,764 shares in the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 818,641 shares of the company's stock worth $13,418,000 after purchasing an additional 338,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S&CO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $302,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $19.00 price target (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 2.1 %

EBC traded up $0.39 during trading on Monday, hitting $19.22. 708,081 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,005,594. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.86 and a 12-month high of $19.40. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $17.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business 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 firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is 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.