Moors & Cabot Inc. Reduces Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Moors & Cabot Inc. reduced its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,335 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,749 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 18.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.5% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 21.1% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth about $25,000. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of EBC opened at $18.83 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.56. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.86 and a 12-month high of $19.15. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 18.97%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

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.