Barclays Initiates Coverage on Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB)

Equities researchers at Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 3.53% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Independent Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Independent Research set a $80.00 target price on Independent Bank in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.80.

Independent Bank Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ INDB traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.28. 43,567 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 325,772. Independent Bank has a 52 week low of $52.15 and a 52 week high of $78.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.10. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The bank reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 16.64%.The firm had revenue of $175.25 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Independent Bank will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Independent Bank

In other Independent Bank news, Director Gerard F. Nadeau sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $210,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 22,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,567,650. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas R. Venables sold 405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.93, for a total value of $29,941.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,519,779.01. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 200,405 shares of company stock worth $13,971,482. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Independent Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Independent Bank by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,705 shares of the bank’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in Independent Bank by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 3,732 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 23.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the bank’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Independent Bank by 0.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,289 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,471,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.