Man Group plc Purchases New Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 302,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,717,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $498,672,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% in the 4th 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. raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,018,000 after buying an additional 3,407,066 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth $33,548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stephens cut 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 research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $22.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.67 and its 200 day moving average is $20.97. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $16.61 and a one year high of $23.77. The firm has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

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

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of Eastern Bankshares 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $464,987.25. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 1,778 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.69, for a total transaction of $40,342.82. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 60,301 shares in the company, valued at $1,368,229.69. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,197 shares of company stock valued at $809,724. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.