Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. Sells 6,000 Shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $1,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EBC. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 21.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 378,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,205,000 after buying an additional 65,764 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter worth $1,943,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 13.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,969,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 467,663 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 5.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,591,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,088,000 after purchasing an additional 86,810 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,791.04. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of Eastern Bankshares stock opened at $19.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58 and a beta of 0.94. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $19.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.03.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 6.02%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.64%.

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.