2,156,313 Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,156,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,196,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,088,000 after buying an additional 86,810 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 21,621 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,203,000 after acquiring an additional 859,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth approximately $511,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $14.49 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.34. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.22 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 71.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

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.