Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.75.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Independent Research set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Independent Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ken S. Ansin sold 144,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total transaction of $10,071,360.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 288,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,176,361.14. This trade represents a 33.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Independent Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Independent Bank by 910.4% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,078,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,556,000 after purchasing an additional 971,587 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 14.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,943,817 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $411,134,000 after acquiring an additional 769,086 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Independent Bank in the first quarter worth about $32,175,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,927,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,053,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NASDAQ INDB traded up $2.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.86. 315,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 329,924. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.65. Independent Bank has a 52 week low of $52.15 and a 52 week high of $77.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 16.64%.The business had revenue of $175.25 million during the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that Independent Bank will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 29th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is currently 57.42%.

About Independent Bank

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.