Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Stock Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,328,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,026 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $40,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $178,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $14.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.34. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato bought 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $308,000. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts.