Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 15.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,287 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 36,600 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of Independent Bank worth $11,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Independent Bank during the second quarter worth approximately $73,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $229,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 2,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James raised shares of Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:INDB opened at $72.22 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 0.73. 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 Corp. has a 12 month low of $45.11 and a 12 month high of $75.63.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. Independent Bank had a net margin of 20.26% and a return on equity of 6.74%. The firm had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. 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 3.16%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.57%.

Independent Bank 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.