Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $3.71 Million Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 215,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 0.10% of Eastern Bankshares worth $3,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,431,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,085,000 after buying 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 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,730,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,889 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the third quarter valued at about $23,849,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares during the period. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total value of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 67,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,791.04. The trade was a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:EBC opened at $17.50 on Friday. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $17.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.68. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 0.94.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.25 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.69%.

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.