Bank of America Corp DE Purchases Shares of 1,717,075 Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,717,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,188,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.75% of Eastern Bankshares as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $498,672,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 28.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,846,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,535,094 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,427,922 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,050,000 after purchasing an additional 592,012 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,548,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,479,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EBC. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens lowered Eastern Bankshares from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.86.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total value of $38,834.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at $464,987.25. This trade represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Casey sold 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $227,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 62,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,410,434.88. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 68,609 shares of company stock valued at $1,529,281 over the last quarter. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ EBC opened at $21.48 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.61 and a 12 month high of $23.77. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $22.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $316.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

About Eastern Bankshares

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Eastern Bank provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipalities, with a focus on communities in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

The bank offers deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, small-business banking, cash-management services, digital and mobile banking, wealth management and trust services.

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