Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the three research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.50.

INDB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James upgraded Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of INDB stock opened at $62.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Independent Bank has a fifty-two week low of $44.63 and a fifty-two week high of $68.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.74.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $250.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Independent Bank will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independent Bank

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INDB. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Independent Bank in the first quarter worth $47,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Independent Bank in the second quarter worth $73,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Independent Bank in the second quarter worth $229,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Independent Bank by 29.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Independent Bank by 102.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,687 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.