Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.9167.

EBC has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, March 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $20.59 on Wednesday. Eastern Bankshares has a 1 year low of $14.10 and a 1 year high of $22.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.76.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EBC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,066,000 after buying an additional 4,835,474 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,018,000 after buying an additional 3,407,066 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter valued at $33,548,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,846,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,535,094 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.