O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc Decreases Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc lessened its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 23.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,558 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,945 shares during the quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,300,000 after purchasing an additional 401,027 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,248,000 after buying an additional 576,381 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,065,000 after buying an additional 764,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at about $23,849,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastern Bankshares news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Eastern Bankshares stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.52. The stock had a trading volume of 133,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,003,250. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.65 and a 12 month high of $17.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business 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 48.38% and a return on equity of 5.06%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EBC has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up previously 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.