Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 808,500 shares, a growth of 22.1% from the October 31st total of 662,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 281,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in INDB. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Independent Bank during the first quarter worth about $461,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 35,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,405,000. Eastern Bank raised its position in shares of Independent Bank by 454.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 23,237 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after buying an additional 19,048 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 186.3% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,186 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 9,881 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on INDB shares. Raymond James raised Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Independent Bank from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Independent Bank Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:INDB traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $72.67. The stock had a trading volume of 253,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,833. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Independent Bank has a one year low of $45.11 and a one year high of $77.23. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.57%.

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.