Jennison Associates LLC Boosts Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,028,897 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,339 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 1.88% of Eastern Bankshares worth $69,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EBC. FMR LLC increased its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 36.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 20.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,940,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,276 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,203,000 after purchasing an additional 859,136 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,339,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,343,000 after purchasing an additional 260,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 19.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,000,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,781,000 after buying an additional 329,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern Bankshares

In other Eastern Bankshares news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of Eastern Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of EBC opened at $18.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97 and a beta of 0.94. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Eastern Bankshares Company 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.