Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,223 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,974 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.28% of Independent Bank worth $6,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INDB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 9.5% in the second 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Independent Bank by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,701,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,283,000 after purchasing an additional 342,201 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Independent Bank by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 737,477 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,405,000 after purchasing an additional 92,438 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 310,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,146,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 258.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Raymond James upgraded Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Independent Bank stock opened at $72.22 on Friday. Independent Bank Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $45.11 and a fifty-two week high of $75.63. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.26% and a return on equity of 6.74%. 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 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given 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 yield of 3.16%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.57%.

About Independent Bank

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.