Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Raffles Associates LP

Raffles Associates LP cut its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 29.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 349,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 148,202 shares during the period. Eastern Bankshares comprises approximately 5.9% of Raffles Associates LP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Raffles Associates LP’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $5,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EBC. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,913,376 shares in the last quarter. 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. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,339,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,343,000 after purchasing an additional 260,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,000,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,781,000 after buying an additional 329,133 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC stock opened at $18.64 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.86 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 18.97%.

Insider Activity

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. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.