Hsbc Holdings PLC Increases Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 342.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 108,054 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 83,629 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.05% of Eastern Bankshares worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 117,953 shares of the company's stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,932,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,585,000 after purchasing an additional 259,476 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,080,479 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,638,000 after buying an additional 960,591 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $371,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:EBC traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $15.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,013,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,102,039. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.09. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.66 and a 12-month high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is -80.00%.

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.