Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Short Interest Update

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,200,000 shares, a growth of 19.5% from the February 13th total of 4,350,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.2 %

EBC stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $16.38. 1,064,668 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 976,429. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.35. Eastern Bankshares has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45 and a beta of 0.95.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,634 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,943,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 283.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 117,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 86,819 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,205,000 after purchasing an additional 65,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% 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.