SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires New Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,478,000. Creative Planning increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 134,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 8,857 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $223,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $390,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in Eastern Bankshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,184,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ EBC opened at $15.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.88. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $10.65 and a one year high of $17.49.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. The firm had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 15.44%.

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares 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.