Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 20,792 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,020,834 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,792 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $34,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,943,000. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $179,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 283.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 117,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after buying an additional 86,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of EBC stock opened at $16.27 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28 and a beta of 0.95. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.22 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.36.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. On average, analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 71.64%.

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.