Raymond James Upgrades Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) to Strong-Buy

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $74.00 price objective on the bank’s stock. Raymond James’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.03% from the company’s previous close.

INDB has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

INDB opened at $62.17 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.74. Independent Bank has a fifty-two week low of $44.63 and a fifty-two week high of $68.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $250.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.24 million. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 22.42%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Independent Bank will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independent Bank

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Independent Bank during the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Independent Bank during the second quarter valued at about $73,000. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in Independent Bank during the second quarter valued at about $229,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 102.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 29.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.