ProShare Advisors LLC Acquires 17,882 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

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

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EBC. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 836.6% in 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 lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% in 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 Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth $178,000. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.2%

EBC stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $14.91. The stock had a trading volume of 151,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,129,967. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.88.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. The firm had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,187 shares in the company, valued at $426,292.16. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO R David Rosato acquired 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $308,000. This 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research 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.