Independent Bank’s (INDB) Strong-Buy Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Raymond James in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $78.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $74.00. Raymond James’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Independent Bank has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of INDB opened at $67.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.78. Independent Bank has a 52 week low of $45.11 and a 52 week high of $77.23.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 6.57% and a net margin of 19.58%. Equities analysts forecast that Independent Bank will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independent Bank

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of INDB. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 258.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 299,234 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,177,000 after purchasing an additional 215,860 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 9.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,917 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,443,000 after purchasing an additional 186,680 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 59.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,024,000 after purchasing an additional 126,791 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 1,697.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 132,435 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,831,000 after purchasing an additional 125,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Independent Bank in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,802,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.