SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,500 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,774 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EBC. FMR LLC lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,913,376 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 595.7% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,730,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,889 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $23,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after acquiring an additional 950,150 shares during the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Eastern Bankshares from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ EBC opened at $17.69 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.67. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.22 and a 12-month high of $19.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.94.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $215.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 corporate insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.