Point72 Asset Management L.P. Acquires New Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 136,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,237,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.06% of Eastern Bankshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $182,000. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter worth $245,000. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 127.0% in the second quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 43,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 24,480 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 21.6% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 225,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,146,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 3.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,064,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,888,000 after acquiring an additional 32,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EBC opened at $17.90 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.90.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.69%.

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.