Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $88.58 and last traded at $87.6850, with a volume of 33,784 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INDB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Independent Bank in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Independent Bank from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Independent Bank from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.43.

Independent Bank Stock Up 0.1%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $261.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.27 million. Independent Bank had a net margin of 24.27% and a return on equity of 9.61%. Analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Monday, September 28th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 28th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas R. Venables sold 3,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total value of $311,250.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,867. This trade represents a 17.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Independent Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of INDB. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Independent Bank in the second quarter worth about $584,333,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its position in shares of Independent Bank by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 657,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,078,000 after purchasing an additional 8,575 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,640,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,268,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the second quarter worth approximately $35,278,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Company Profile

Independent Bank Corp. is the bank holding company for Rockland Trust Company, a full-service community bank headquartered in Rockland, Massachusetts. Through Rockland Trust, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate lending, business loans, cash-management and treasury services, online and mobile banking, and wealth management.