Insider Selling: Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Sells $229,600.00 in Stock

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Joseph Casey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total transaction of $229,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 72,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,654,933.84. This trade represents a 12.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.2%

EBC opened at $22.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.61 and a fifty-two week high of $23.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.60 and its 200 day moving average is $20.95. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.68.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $316.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.20 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 25.12%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 34.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth $309,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 2,062.7% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,790,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,776,000 after buying an additional 5,522,534 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $380,000. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth about $211,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EBC. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stephens lowered shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price 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 given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.