Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Price Target Raised to $24.00

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) had its price target boosted by Barclays from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, October 26th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Eastern Bankshares from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.14.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $22.73 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Eastern Bankshares has a 52-week low of $16.97 and a 52-week high of $23.78. The company has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.71 and a 200 day moving average of $21.12.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The company had revenue of $311.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.60 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Investors of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 34.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Joseph Casey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 62,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,410,434.88. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald Westermann sold 23,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.43, for a total value of $492,997.15. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $483,567.95. The trade was a 50.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 65,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,452,900 in the last 90 days. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EBC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $57,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 405.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 7,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBC) is the holding company for Eastern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1818, Eastern Bank is one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States to have converted to public ownership.

Eastern Bank provides a range of personal and business banking products, including checking and savings accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, commercial loans, cash-management services and online banking.