Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 55,106 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

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

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

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares 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 value of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $452,571.60. This represents a 7.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Up 1.0%

EBC stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.17. 2,075,250 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,209,680. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.51 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $15.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.14.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal 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 represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Eastern Bankshares

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.