Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 622.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 108,712 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,674 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the first quarter worth $8,768,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% in the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 205,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 15.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,019,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087,206 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,847,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,297,000 after purchasing an additional 91,338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.7%

EBC stock opened at $19.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.68. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.51 and a 12 month high of $19.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 76.20 and a beta of 0.83.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $162.26 million for the quarter. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 7.94% and a net margin of 4.97%. Equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 208.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EBC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cowen started coverage on Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Robert Francis Rivers bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.21 per share, with a total value of $860,500.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 403,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,940,345.54. This trade represents a 14.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 322,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $6,142,332.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 36,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $687,211.36. This trade represents a 89.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.