Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 27,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at about $85,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the first quarter valued at about $126,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $134,000. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at about $150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $16.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.43. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.65 and a fifty-two week high of $17.26.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. The firm had revenue of $232.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.