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

Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the three brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $78.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James raised shares of Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independent Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of INDB. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Independent Bank by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 55,715 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938 shares in the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 7.2% in the second quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 22,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 25.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,701,156 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,283,000 after buying an additional 342,201 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,405,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Independent Bank by 110.8% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 47,285 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after acquiring an additional 24,854 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Independent Bank Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of INDB opened at $63.92 on Monday. Independent Bank has a 1-year low of $45.11 and a 1-year high of $77.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $69.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90 and a beta of 0.78.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted 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 6.74% and a net margin of 20.26%. The business had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Independent Bank will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is 49.57%.

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.