SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 3,521 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 65.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,822 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,521 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,024,000 after acquiring an additional 126,791 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 1,697.7% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 132,435 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,831,000 after purchasing an additional 125,068 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the third quarter worth approximately $5,802,000. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 172.4% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 138,146 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,169,000 after purchasing an additional 87,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 4th quarter valued at $5,586,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

INDB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ:INDB opened at $70.24 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Independent Bank Corp. has a 12-month low of $45.11 and a 12-month high of $77.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.77.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.57% and a net margin of 19.58%. Equities research analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.44%.

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.