Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.56, but opened at $17.77. Eastern Bankshares shares last traded at $18.61, with a volume of 63,286 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 0.89.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released 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 net margin of 38.00% and a return on equity of 4.49%. The company had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 20.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total transaction of $211,182.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern Bankshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EBC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the first quarter valued at $126,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 6,514 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 8.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the first quarter valued at $3,804,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 103,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 5,481 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.