White Pine Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

White Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 61,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,926,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979,113 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,480,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,566,000 after purchasing an additional 66,050 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $854,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 249,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,130,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,367,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,244,000 after buying an additional 100,820 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 40,288 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.08, for a total value of $526,967.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 42,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $549,883.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

EBC stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $13.04. 946,254 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 819,752. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.08. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.93 and a 12 month high of $15.07.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $160.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $153.53 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 49.59%. On average, analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

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.