31,154 Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Acquired by M&T Bank Corp

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

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $302,085,000 after buying an additional 4,913,376 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 595.7% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,730,639 shares of the company's stock worth $28,365,000 after buying an additional 1,481,889 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company's stock valued at $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company's stock worth $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of EBC stock traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.91. 1,679,182 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 997,656. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company's 50 day moving average is $17.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.12. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released 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). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid 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 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

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.