Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $74.60 and last traded at $74.3450, with a volume of 55661 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $73.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on INDB. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 10th. Independent Research set a $83.00 target price on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Independent Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Independent Bank has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.75.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.17 and a 200-day moving average of $67.16. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The bank reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $175.25 million for the quarter. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 16.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Independent Bank Corp. will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 29th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gerard F. Nadeau sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $210,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,395 shares in the company, valued at $1,567,650. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ken S. Ansin sold 144,000 shares of Independent Bank stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $10,071,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 288,481 shares in the company, valued at $20,176,361.14. This trade represents a 33.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 200,000 shares of company stock valued at $13,941,540 in the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in INDB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Independent Bank by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,943,817 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,134,000 after acquiring an additional 769,086 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Independent Bank by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,606,415 shares of the bank’s stock worth $180,286,000 after buying an additional 250,651 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 57.9% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,703,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,102,000 after acquiring an additional 624,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,049,086 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,980,000 after acquiring an additional 6,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 17.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 946,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,435,000 after purchasing an additional 141,888 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.