M&T Bank Corp Buys Shares of 31,154 Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 31,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 3.8 %

EBC opened at $17.79 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $17.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.12. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.22 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

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.