Fiduciary Trust Co Buys New Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Fiduciary Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,085,000 after buying an additional 4,913,376 shares during the period. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at $23,849,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,065,000 after purchasing an additional 764,881 shares during the period. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth about $6,717,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ EBC opened at $18.64 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.76. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $11.86 and a one year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction on 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

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.