Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Shares Acquired by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 815,540 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 65,540 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned approximately 0.38% of Eastern Bankshares worth $13,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 283.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 117,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 86,819 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth approximately $162,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter worth approximately $1,943,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $18.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.37. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.86 and a 12-month high of $19.15.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $299.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is an increase from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EBC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (up from $17.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Eastern Bankshares from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $18.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

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.