First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 960,591 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,080,479 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 960,591 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.37% of Eastern Bankshares worth $87,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 284.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 617,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,118,000 after buying an additional 456,586 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth $220,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth $761,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company's stock worth $26,088,000 after purchasing an additional 86,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 20,971 shares of the company's stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC traded down $1.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $14.77. The company had a trading volume of 4,053,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,079,940. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.54 and a 12 month high of $19.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.16.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

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.