Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Short Interest Down 10.8% in March

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 721,200 shares, a decline of 10.8% from the March 15th total of 808,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 295,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other Independent Bank news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of Independent Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.83, for a total transaction of $42,264.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $614,941.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,422,075 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $442,929,000 after purchasing an additional 215,685 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,325,701 shares of the bank’s stock worth $191,187,000 after buying an additional 54,624 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Independent Bank by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,907,345 shares of the bank’s stock worth $93,632,000 after acquiring an additional 25,094 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,753,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,415,000 after acquiring an additional 164,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Independent Bank by 80.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,661,215 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,549,000 after purchasing an additional 741,609 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Independent Bank Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Independent Bank stock opened at $48.70 on Tuesday. Independent Bank has a 1-year low of $43.28 and a 1-year high of $68.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.23 and a 200-day moving average of $54.90.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The bank reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.01. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 26.02%. The firm had revenue of $177.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.75 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Independent Bank will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This is a boost from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on INDB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Independent Bank from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th.

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.