Insider Selling: Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Sells 2,348 Shares of Stock

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.68, for a total transaction of $36,816.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,292.16. This trade represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Luis Borgen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 20th, Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 4.2%

Shares of EBC stock opened at $14.91 on Thursday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.66 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.42 and its 200-day moving average is $16.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. The company had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EBC. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 21,621 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,815,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,316,000 after buying an additional 223,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,196,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $311,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 479.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 36,344 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.