Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 22,000 Independent Bank Corp. $INDB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 22,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,606,415 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $180,286,000 after buying an additional 250,651 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Independent Bank by 57.9% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,703,144 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,102,000 after acquiring an additional 624,833 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 84.1% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 1,261,622 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,199,000 after acquiring an additional 576,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $90,082,000 after acquiring an additional 20,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Independent Bank by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,046,475 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,476,000 after acquiring an additional 13,935 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on INDB. Hovde Group began coverage on Independent Bank in a report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Independent Research set a $95.00 price objective on Independent Bank in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Independent Bank from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stephens started coverage on Independent Bank in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Independent Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph C. Lerner sold 2,832 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.31, for a total transaction of $218,941.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,253,581.65. This represents a 14.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

INDB stock opened at $85.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.62. The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Independent Bank Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $61.55 and a fifty-two week high of $87.00.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by ($0.02). Independent Bank had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm had revenue of $252.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $251.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th will be issued a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

About Independent Bank

Independent Bank Group, Inc (NASDAQ:INDB) is a bank holding company headquartered in McKinney, Texas, that provides a range of financial services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Independent Bank. Tracing its roots to the late 19th century, the company has grown from a single community bank into a regional financial institution serving individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. Independent Bank Group became a bank holding company in 1983 and expanded its footprint through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

The company’s primary business activities encompass retail and commercial banking, including deposit products, consumer and business lending and credit services.