HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 20,781 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 123.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 37,585 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,781 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. PFS Partners LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter valued at $35,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% in the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.7 %

EBC stock opened at $16.79 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.13.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.