Swiss National Bank Purchases 3,200 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 381,764 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $6,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,088,000 after acquiring an additional 86,810 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,203,000 after acquiring an additional 859,136 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $511,000. Finally, Boston Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO R David Rosato purchased 10,000 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000. The trade was a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $16.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76 and a beta of 0.95. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.34.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 6.02% and a net margin of 11.07%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Monday, January 27th.

About Eastern Bankshares

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.