Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Makes New Investment in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 87,029 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $5,586,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.20% of Independent Bank as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of INDB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,917 shares of the bank’s stock worth $109,443,000 after buying an additional 186,680 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $830,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 129.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 53,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter worth $229,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Independent Bank Trading Up 4.9 %

Shares of Independent Bank stock opened at $67.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.19. Independent Bank Corp. has a 1 year low of $45.11 and a 1 year high of $77.23. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.74% and a net margin of 20.26%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.00.

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.