Aureus Asset Management LLC Acquires 71,053 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Aureus Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 659.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 81,834 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 71,053 shares during the period. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EBC. FMR LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,085,000 after buying an additional 4,913,376 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,061,000 after buying an additional 467,663 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,339,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,343,000 after buying an additional 260,361 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,000,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,781,000 after buying an additional 329,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $18.64 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.76. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.86 and a 12 month high of $19.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.69%.

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.