Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Rafferty Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 178,950 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,981 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.08% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 54,348 shares of the company's stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 17,882 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 203.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 900,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,533,000 after acquiring an additional 603,991 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 109,853 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,381,000. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 112.1% in the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,666,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409,471 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.7%

EBC traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.78. 728,827 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,131,945. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.66 and a 12-month high of $19.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.36 and a 200 day moving average of $16.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. 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 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $308,000. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Luis Borgen sold 2,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now owns 29,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $452,571.60. This trade represents a 7.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.