Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the two research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on INDB. TheStreet cut Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Independent Bank from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday.

Independent Bank Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ INDB opened at $52.22 on Wednesday. Independent Bank has a 52 week low of $43.28 and a 52 week high of $68.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.97.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.37%. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is presently 44.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was 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 approximately $614,941.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.87% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Independent Bank by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 518,119 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,097,000 after buying an additional 93,901 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,663,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 4th quarter valued at $3,463,000. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at $399,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at $659,000. 83.40% of the stock is 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.