Northern Trust Corp Purchases 442,352 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,286,789 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 442,352 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.07% of Eastern Bankshares worth $39,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 836.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,219 shares of the company's stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $308,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of EBC stock traded down $0.08 on Thursday, hitting $15.56. The stock had a trading volume of 227,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,117,494. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.01. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.66 and a one year high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.22 and a beta of 0.97.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $226.98 million. Equities research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares's payout ratio is currently -80.00%.

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.