Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 49.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,348 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 17,882 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 836.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 5,555 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% in 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. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $178,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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 research report on Monday, April 28th.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $15.07. The company had a trading volume of 917,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,131,736. The company's 50-day moving average is $15.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.91. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.66 and a twelve month high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $226.98 million. Sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.13 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $36,628.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,011 shares in the company, valued at $452,571.60. This represents a 7.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now 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. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.