Swiss National Bank Lowers Position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.18% of Eastern Bankshares worth $4,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Eastern Bankshares by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,926,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979,113 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 25.1% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,570,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,232,000 after acquiring an additional 516,200 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in Eastern Bankshares by 53.1% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,405,000 after acquiring an additional 260,000 shares in the last quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at $2,781,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,367,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,244,000 after purchasing an additional 100,820 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 40,288 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.08, for a total transaction of $526,967.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $549,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Performance

EBC opened at $14.41 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.65 and a 1-year high of $15.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $230.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.52 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.59% and a net margin of 49.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 15.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a report on Friday, January 26th.

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.