Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,339,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,343,000 after purchasing an additional 260,361 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 19.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,000,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,781,000 after purchasing an additional 329,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $23,849,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $18.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.73. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.86 and a twelve month high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.97%.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.