Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $311.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.60 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $22.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Eastern Bankshares has a fifty-two week low of $16.61 and a fifty-two week high of $23.77.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EBC. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.86.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the sale, the director owned 62,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Donald Westermann sold 23,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 22,565 shares in the company, valued at $483,567.95. The trade was a 50.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,190 shares of company stock worth $1,452,900. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

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.