Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Holdings Decreased by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 28.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,367,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,244,000 after purchasing an additional 100,820 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,926,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,474,000 after buying an additional 1,979,113 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 25.1% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,570,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,232,000 after acquiring an additional 516,200 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 4.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,480,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,566,000 after buying an additional 66,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 53.1% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,405,000 after purchasing an additional 260,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:EBC traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $13.51. The stock had a trading volume of 72,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 929,689. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.09 and its 200-day moving average is $13.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.88. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $10.65 and a one year high of $15.07.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $230.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.52 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 49.59% and a return on equity of 5.75%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 15.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 40,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.08, for a total transaction of $526,967.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $549,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.