Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,166,273 shares of the company's stock after selling 518,958 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.01% of Eastern Bankshares worth $37,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of EBC traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.66. 234,940 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,119,776. The stock's 50-day moving average is $15.45 and its 200-day moving average is $17.00. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.66 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is presently -80.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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