LPL Financial LLC Purchases 1,800 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,123 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $1,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Independent Bank by 59.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,024,000 after purchasing an additional 126,791 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 681.3% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 101,431 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,511,000 after acquiring an additional 88,448 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,586,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Independent Bank by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 188,385 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,092,000 after acquiring an additional 69,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Independent Bank by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 469,359 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,128,000 after acquiring an additional 46,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ INDB opened at $55.84 on Friday. Independent Bank Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $45.11 and a fifty-two week high of $77.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $62.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.24.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $178.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.03 million. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.57% and a net margin of 19.58%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Independent Bank Corp. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.21%.

Insider Activity at Independent Bank

In other Independent Bank news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total value of $44,819.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,495.48. This represents a 4.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on INDB shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up from $74.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Independent Bank from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th.

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.