Janus Henderson Group PLC Reduces Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Janus Henderson Group PLC decreased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,685,231 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,132,745 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $44,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 123.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 20,781 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 659.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 81,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 71,053 shares during the last quarter. Kitching Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $322,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 559.5% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 327,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,366,000 after purchasing an additional 277,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EBC opened at $18.08 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.22 and a fifty-two week high of $19.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.83. The company has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.