Man Group plc Has $5.09 Million Stock Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Man Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295,132 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,689 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.14% of Eastern Bankshares worth $5,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EBC. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 836.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,219 shares of the company's stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 5,555 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company's stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.68, for a total transaction of $36,816.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,187 shares of the company's stock, valued at $426,292.16. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $308,000. This represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $14.78. 728,827 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,128,749. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06 and a beta of 0.97. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.66 and a 52 week high of $19.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $15.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.97.

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 the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.