Brown Advisory Inc. Buys 469,743 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,180,377 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 469,743 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 1.96% of Eastern Bankshares worth $68,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 92.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,778 shares of the company's stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,793 shares of the company's stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,791 shares of the company's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of EBC traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $15.88. The stock had a trading volume of 881,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,222,128. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.20. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.51 and a twelve month high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.43 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were given a $0.13 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total value of $36,628.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 29,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.