Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on EBC. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Hovde Group upped their target price on Eastern Bankshares from $23.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Eastern Bankshares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.86.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $23.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Eastern Bankshares has a 12 month low of $15.71 and a 12 month high of $23.78.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 25.12%.The company had revenue of $316.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.20 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,254,000 after purchasing an additional 54,664 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the first quarter worth $954,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 114,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 7.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 432,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,091,000 after purchasing an additional 29,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 789.9% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 545,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,948,000 after purchasing an additional 484,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

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.