Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $17.31 and last traded at $17.25, with a volume of 571178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EBC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 1.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.25 and its 200-day moving average is $14.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 48.38% and a return on equity of 5.06%. The firm had revenue of $232.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EBC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after buying an additional 950,150 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,065,000 after purchasing an additional 764,881 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,248,000 after purchasing an additional 576,381 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,464,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,198,000 after buying an additional 559,754 shares during the period. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the second quarter worth $6,717,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% 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.