ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 364.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,213 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in INDB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Independent Bank by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,917 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,443,000 after buying an additional 186,680 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,017,400 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,170,000 after purchasing an additional 8,987 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Independent Bank by 4.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 523,659 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,964,000 after purchasing an additional 22,919 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Independent Bank by 59.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,024,000 after purchasing an additional 126,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Independent Bank by 258.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 299,234 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,177,000 after purchasing an additional 215,860 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on INDB. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James raised Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INDB opened at $60.31 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.78. Independent Bank Corp. has a 12 month low of $45.11 and a 12 month high of $77.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.90 and its 200 day moving average is $62.44.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.57%.

Independent Bank 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.