Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Raymond James upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $61.57, but opened at $64.53. Raymond James now has a $74.00 price target on the stock. Independent Bank shares last traded at $63.45, with a volume of 21,672 shares.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on INDB. StockNews.com cut Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 509,236 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,513,000 after acquiring an additional 25,664 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Independent Bank by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,272,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $347,015,000 after purchasing an additional 69,312 shares in the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its stake in Independent Bank by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 8,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 19.7% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 50,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,641,000 after buying an additional 8,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 89.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,236,000 after buying an additional 11,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Trading Up 2.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.99.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.24 million. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 22.42%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is 44.02%.

Independent Bank Company Profile

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.