Boston Family Office LLC Makes New Investment in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Boston Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 28,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. PFS Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $19.03 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.86 and a 1 year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EBC has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

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.