Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. Invests $2.05 Million in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 124,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,048,000. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. owned 0.07% of Eastern Bankshares at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 24.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,835,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,599,000 after purchasing an additional 950,150 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 58.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,079,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,065,000 after purchasing an additional 764,881 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.8% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,993,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,248,000 after buying an additional 576,381 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,464,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,198,000 after buying an additional 559,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,717,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $17.10. 119,638 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,002,928. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.69. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $10.65 and a one year high of $17.26.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The company had revenue of $232.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.45 million. Eastern Bankshares had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 48.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Eastern Bankshares’s payout ratio is currently 15.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Quincy Lee Miller sold 12,676 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.66, for a total value of $211,182.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Eastern Bankshares 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.