Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $70.63 and last traded at $70.46, with a volume of 2144 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on INDB. Raymond James upgraded Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Down 3.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.37.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.24 million. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 20.26%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.57%.

Institutional Trading of Independent Bank

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of INDB. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Independent Bank in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Independent Bank in the second quarter valued at about $73,000. Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the second quarter valued at about $229,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the third quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.