M3F Inc. Reduces Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

M3F Inc. reduced its stake in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 628,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,100 shares during the period. Eastern Bankshares accounts for approximately 3.1% of M3F Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. M3F Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Eastern Bankshares worth $10,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 21,621 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Eastern Bankshares by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,815,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,316,000 after buying an additional 223,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Eastern Bankshares by 23.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,203,000 after buying an additional 859,136 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at $37,196,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 479.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after acquiring an additional 36,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO R David Rosato bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.40 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $308,000. This represents a 100.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC opened at $14.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 0.96. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a one year low of $12.54 and a one year high of $19.40.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.