Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 22,919 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 523,659 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 22,919 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.23% of Independent Bank worth $30,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Independent Bank by 20.7% during the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 35,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,775,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,405,000. Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of Independent Bank by 454.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 23,237 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 19,048 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Independent Bank by 186.3% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,186 shares of the bank’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 9,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Independent Bank by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 283,661 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,773,000 after purchasing an additional 28,373 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on INDB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Raymond James raised Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INDB opened at $71.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 0.76. Independent Bank Corp. has a 52 week low of $45.11 and a 52 week high of $77.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.50 and a 200 day moving average of $59.07.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.74% and a net margin of 20.26%. The firm had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is 49.57%.

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.