Vest Financial LLC Boosts Stock Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 61.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,095 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 53,871 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.07% of Eastern Bankshares worth $2,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,061,000 after buying an additional 467,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew 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 buying an additional 1,170,276 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,088,000 after buying an additional 86,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 2.6 %

EBC traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.39. 836,500 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 954,946. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45 and a beta of 0.94. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.64%.

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.