Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Acquired by Creative Planning

Creative Planning boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 171,129 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 36,743 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning owned about 0.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $2,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company's stock worth $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,300,000 after purchasing an additional 401,027 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company's stock worth $41,248,000 after buying an additional 576,381 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company's stock worth $29,065,000 after buying an additional 764,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,064,969 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,888,000 after buying an additional 32,741 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 4.8 %

Eastern Bankshares stock traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $15.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,549,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 847,745. The stock's fifty day moving average is $16.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.65 and a 1 year high of $17.49.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released 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 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is 16.24%.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

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.