Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Hovde Group upped their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

NASDAQ EBC opened at $23.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.84. Eastern Bankshares has a 52-week low of $15.71 and a 52-week high of $23.75.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $316.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. Equities research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 20,475 shares in the company, valued at $464,987.25. This trade represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EBC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth $498,672,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 valued at $137,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835,474 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $253,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407,066 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth about $33,548,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.