Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 116,909 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,070 shares during the quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Eastern Bankshares were worth $2,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EBC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Eastern Bankshares by 127.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the third quarter valued at $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern Bankshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 1,155.9% during the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 4,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastern Bankshares Trading Up 0.5 %

EBC traded up $0.09 on Monday, hitting $16.69. 972,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 800,594. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.63. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.22 and a twelve month high of $19.40. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 4.49% and a net margin of 38.00%. The firm had revenue of $299.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Eastern Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Deborah C. Jackson sold 5,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.56, for a total transaction of $106,033.28. Following the transaction, the director now owns 67,284 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,791.04. This trade represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

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.