Amalgamated Bank Buys 1,150 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,595 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% in the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth $85,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set 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 boosted their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of EBC stock opened at $18.45 on Monday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.86 and a 52-week high of $19.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.41.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. 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. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is 18.97%.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

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 stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

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.