White Pine Capital LLC Invests $867,000 in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC)

White Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 61,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 207,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,951,000 after purchasing an additional 23,873 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $164,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Eastern Bankshares by 283.5% in the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 40,458 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eastern Bankshares in the 4th quarter worth about $282,000. Institutional investors own 71.68% of the company’s stock.

Eastern Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of EBC traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $13.04. 946,254 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 819,752. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.08. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.93 and a 12 month high of $15.07.

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $160.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $153.53 million. Eastern Bankshares had a net margin of 49.59% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities analysts expect that Eastern Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Eastern Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Eastern Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.44%.

Insider Activity at Eastern Bankshares

In related news, Director Luis Borgen sold 40,288 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.08, for a total transaction of $526,967.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eastern Bankshares in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

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.