SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 27,364 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its holdings in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 91.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,618 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 27,364 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $172,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of INDB. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Independent Bank by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 543 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Independent Bank by 30.4% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Independent Bank during the second quarter worth about $98,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Independent Bank by 13.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,598 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Independent Bank by 7.9% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,854 shares of the bank’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.83, for a total value of $42,264.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $614,941.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Independent Bank Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ INDB opened at $48.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 0.83. Independent Bank Corp. has a 12 month low of $43.28 and a 12 month high of $68.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.90.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The bank reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $177.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.75 million. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 26.02%. As a group, analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.69%. This is an increase from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Independent Bank from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd.

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.