Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $364,000 Stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 62.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,117 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,824 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,778 shares of the company's stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,791 shares of the company's stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 301,626 shares of the company's stock worth $5,203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,887 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 381,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.68, for a total value of $36,816.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,187 shares in the company, valued at $426,292.16. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO R David Rosato bought 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. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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 report on Monday, April 28th.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.93. 1,395,063 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,156,151. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.72. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.66 and a one year high of $19.40.

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. The business had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

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.