Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,273,257 shares of the company's stock after selling 55,106 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.06% of Eastern Bankshares worth $37,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 1st quarter worth $277,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company's stock worth $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 21,621 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,815,393 shares of the company's stock worth $31,316,000 after acquiring an additional 223,681 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 3,049.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 29,766 shares of the company's stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 28,821 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth $37,196,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on 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 Stock Performance

Shares of EBC traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,369,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,504. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.51 and a 12 month high of $19.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.17.

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

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 3rd. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is -80.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 29,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $452,571.60. The trade was a 7.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.