William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases New Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management acquired 1.55 million Eastern Bankshares shares valued at approximately $34.4 million, giving it a 0.68% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 71.68% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is favorable, with six Buy ratings and three Hold ratings, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $24.86.
• Eastern Bankshares exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.49 in EPS and $316.0 million in revenue, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, representing a 2.6% annualized yield.

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,547,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,427,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.68% of Eastern Bankshares at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth $498,672,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $137,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835,474 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company's stock worth $253,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407,066 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company's stock worth $403,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,548,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EBC has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seaport Research Partners restated a "buy" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC stock opened at $22.74 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $22.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.94. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $15.95 and a one year high of $23.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $316.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.20 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Joseph F. Casey sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.62, for a total transaction of $236,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 82,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,705.98. This trade represents a 10.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total value of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $464,987.25. This trade represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,419 shares of company stock worth $312,581. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.

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