Eastern Bank Sells 485 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Eastern Bank reduced its position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,752 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $1,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INDB. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 364.9% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at $222,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the 2nd quarter worth about $229,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the 3rd quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of INDB stock opened at $61.04 on Tuesday. Independent Bank Corp. has a one year low of $45.11 and a one year high of $77.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $68.88 and its 200 day moving average is $62.64. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $250.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

INDB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.00.

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.