Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Price Target Raised to $25.00

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) had its price target raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $23.00 to $25.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Eastern Bankshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of EBC opened at $23.04 on Monday. Eastern Bankshares has a 1 year low of $14.88 and a 1 year high of $23.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.54. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.67.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 25.12% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $316.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.20 million. On average, analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 34.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total value of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $464,987.25. This trade represents a 7.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern Bankshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after buying an additional 2,440,017 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,018,000 after acquiring an additional 3,407,066 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,552,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,048,000 after acquiring an additional 939,740 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,919,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 185.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,437,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835,474 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Bankshares Company Profile

Eastern Bankshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Eastern Bank, one of the oldest and largest mutual banks in the United States. Founded in 1818 as Salem Savings Bank and later rebranded as Eastern Bank in 1989, the company preserved its mutual ownership structure for more than two centuries. In March 2020, it completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker EBC, while continuing to emphasize its community-focused heritage.

Through its primary subsidiary, Eastern Bank, the company delivers a broad range of commercial and consumer banking products.