Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Stock Holdings Decreased by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,643 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,980 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. PFS Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% during the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 3,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $85,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EBC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. 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.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6 %

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $18.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.89. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.86 and a 52-week high of $19.15.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

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.