Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Sells 4,625 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. trimmed its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 28.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,558 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,625 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $23,849,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in 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 last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% in 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 last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,717,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after acquiring an additional 467,663 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 1.1 %

EBC opened at $19.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.62. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.86 and a 12-month high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.97%.

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.