Rafferty Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 178,950 shares of the company’s stock after selling 38,981 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after buying an additional 21,621 shares during the period. 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 valued at $31,316,000 after purchasing an additional 223,681 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,196,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth $311,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 479.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 36,344 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $308,000. This represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $15.59 on Monday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.66 and a one year high of $19.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. The company had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is -80.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.