Norges Bank Takes $33.55 Million Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,820,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,548,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HoldCo Asset Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% during the third quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP now owns 6,408,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,272 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 30.3% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 271,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after purchasing an additional 63,172 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 249.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,810,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 22.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,150,000 after purchasing an additional 184,460 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on EBC shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Stephens started coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.92.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of EBC stock opened at $20.46 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.10 and a 12 month high of $22.58. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.74.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.04). Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 26.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business had revenue of $295.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.68 million. On average, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.