Aigen Investment Management LP Purchases New Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $23,849,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,065,000 after acquiring an additional 764,881 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,717,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,795,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,300,000 after purchasing an additional 401,027 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $18.45 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.86 and a twelve month high of $19.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.79 and its 200-day moving average is $15.39.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.