William Blair Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,505,539 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,746 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $43,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 24,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 20,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 1,272 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.41 on Tuesday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.49 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.36.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. Analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 71.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.