Ameriprise Financial Inc. Trims Stock Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 30.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 213,416 shares of the company's stock after selling 93,410 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.10% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EBC. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 284.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 617,306 shares of the company's stock worth $10,118,000 after buying an additional 456,586 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 479.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 36,344 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,028,897 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,498,000 after purchasing an additional 59,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 61.1% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 142,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,451,000 after purchasing an additional 53,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $14.94. 2,114,516 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,142,840. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.19 and a 200-day moving average of $16.82. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.66 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. The business had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Sell-side analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a boost 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 currently -80.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,571.60. This represents a 7.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.