Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 381,764 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.18% of Eastern Bankshares worth $6,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 283.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 117,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 86,819 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $522,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,339,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,343,000 after buying an additional 260,361 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,000,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,781,000 after buying an additional 329,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 253,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,153,000 after buying an additional 62,189 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC stock opened at $16.59 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $17.58 and its 200 day moving average is $17.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76 and a beta of 0.95.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 71.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 report on Monday, January 27th.

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.