Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Raymond James upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $61.57, but opened at $64.53. Raymond James now has a $74.00 price target on the stock. Independent Bank shares last traded at $63.45, with a volume of 21,672 shares traded.

INDB has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com lowered Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independent Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $73,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the second quarter valued at approximately $229,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Independent Bank by 102.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Independent Bank by 29.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. Independent Bank had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The firm had revenue of $250.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

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

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.