Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Position Increased by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,180,377 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 469,743 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 1.96% of Eastern Bankshares worth $68,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EBC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,259,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,722,000 after acquiring an additional 142,999 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at $277,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,020,834 shares of the company's stock worth $34,859,000 after buying an additional 20,792 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,497 shares of the company's stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $311,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the sale, the director owned 29,011 shares in the company, valued at $452,571.60. This represents a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of EBC traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.04. 864,715 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,235,042. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.23. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.51 and a 12-month high of $19.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.68 and a beta of 0.94.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a positive return on equity of 6.42% and a negative net margin of 15.56%. The company had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -80.00%.

Eastern Bankshares 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.