EBC FY2024 EPS Estimate Cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) – Equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst D. Delmonte now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of $0.98 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $1.12. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Eastern Bankshares’ current full-year earnings is $1.11 per share. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods also issued estimates for Eastern Bankshares’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.28 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.29 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.31 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.33 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.34 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $1.27 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.34 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.35 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.38 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.45 EPS.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. The firm had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share.

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.50 and a 200-day moving average of $14.98. Eastern Bankshares has a one year low of $10.65 and a one year high of $17.49.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,248,000 after purchasing an additional 576,381 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the first quarter worth $126,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 6,514 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 1st quarter valued at $3,804,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.