41,959 Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC Purchased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 41,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $821,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 249.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 624,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,514,000 after purchasing an additional 111,811 shares during the last quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,153,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,275,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,498,000 after buying an additional 275,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total transaction of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $464,987.25. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $23.10 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.88 and a fifty-two week high of $23.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.49.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $316.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.20 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. On average, analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EBC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays dropped their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens assumed coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.86.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.