Mariner LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Mariner LLC decreased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,122 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,068 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 284.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 617,306 shares of the company's stock worth $10,118,000 after acquiring an additional 456,586 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter worth $220,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at $761,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,088,000 after purchasing an additional 86,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,272 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.22. The company had a trading volume of 294,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,095,532. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.10. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. The company had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased 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 owns 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 report on Monday.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.