Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $2.16 Million in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 33,600 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,157,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 206,079 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,228,000 after buying an additional 5,792 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the 4th quarter valued at $5,586,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 75.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 94,976 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,616,000 after acquiring an additional 40,697 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the fourth quarter worth about $722,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the third quarter worth about $2,060,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on INDB. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Independent Bank from $74.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Independent Bank from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up from $74.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Independent Bank Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:INDB opened at $65.21 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.22. Independent Bank Corp. has a one year low of $45.11 and a one year high of $77.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $178.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $175.03 million. Independent Bank had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 6.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 53.15%.

Independent Bank Company Profile

Independent Bank Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Rockland Trust Company that provides commercial banking products and services to individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses in the United States. The company provides interest checking, money market, and savings accounts, as well as demand deposits and time certificates of deposit.