Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Earns “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James restated their strong-buy rating on shares of Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $78.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $74.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ:INDB opened at $65.88 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.13 and a 200-day moving average of $63.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Independent Bank has a twelve month low of $45.11 and a twelve month high of $77.23.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 6.57%. Analysts forecast that Independent Bank will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.44%.

Institutional Trading of Independent Bank

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 purchasing an additional 186,680 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% in the 2nd 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. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $830,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Independent Bank by 129.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 53,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after buying an additional 30,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $229,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.