JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 126,791 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 126,791 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.80% of Independent Bank worth $20,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of INDB. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Independent Bank in the second quarter worth $229,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the third quarter valued at $257,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% in 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. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in Independent Bank by 59.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,737 shares of the bank’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 2,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of Independent Bank stock opened at $62.35 on Friday. Independent Bank Corp. has a 52 week low of $45.11 and a 52 week high of $77.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.24.

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

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is presently 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.