Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Trims Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lowered its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,460 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,491 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.13% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 1st quarter worth about $126,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $134,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $164,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ EBC traded up $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.68. 559,156 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 991,150. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.69. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.65 and a 12-month high of $17.26.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The business had revenue of $232.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.45 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 48.38% and a return on equity of 5.14%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.44%.

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.