SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 479.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,929 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,344 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,913,376 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 595.7% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,730,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,889 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth about $23,849,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,203,000 after purchasing an additional 859,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $18.15 on Thursday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $17.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.93.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.69%.

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.