Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

EBC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, March 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised Eastern Bankshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.50 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastern Bankshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $20.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.56 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.22. Eastern Bankshares has a 12-month low of $14.10 and a 12-month high of $22.58.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $290.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.09 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 8.32%. Equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.17 per share, with a total value of $95,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 45,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,650. The trade was a 12.50% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald Michael Westermann sold 21,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.11, for a total value of $427,458.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,860 shares in the company, valued at $419,494.60. This represents a 50.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 38.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,254,000 after acquiring an additional 54,664 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the first quarter worth $954,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 114,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 7.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 432,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,091,000 after purchasing an additional 29,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 789.9% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 545,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,948,000 after purchasing an additional 484,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.