Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 116,149 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. $EBC

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 28.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 296,870 shares of the company’s stock after selling 116,149 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $5,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EBC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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 worth $137,066,000 after acquiring an additional 4,835,474 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,728,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,018,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407,066 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,874,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,017 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth $33,548,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 28.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,846,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,535,094 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EBC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens lowered Eastern Bankshares from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Eastern Bankshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $23.19 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $21.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.68. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.95 and a fifty-two week high of $23.75.

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

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Luis Borgen sold 1,710 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total transaction of $38,834.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $464,987.25. The trade was a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.