Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Sells 8,570 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,628 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,570 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EBC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 36,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 6,800 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 301,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,203,000 after buying an additional 2,887 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 61.1% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 142,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,451,000 after purchasing an additional 53,871 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,028,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,498,000 after purchasing an additional 59,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.9 %

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $17.67 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.28. The company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37 and a beta of 0.94. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.64%.

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.