Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,677 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Independent Bank by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,422,075 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $442,929,000 after buying an additional 215,685 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,325,701 shares of the bank’s stock worth $191,187,000 after purchasing an additional 54,624 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,907,345 shares of the bank’s stock worth $93,632,000 after purchasing an additional 25,094 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 80.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,661,215 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,549,000 after purchasing an additional 741,609 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 251.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 961,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,208,000 after purchasing an additional 688,062 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Price Performance

Shares of INDB stock opened at $48.47 on Wednesday. Independent Bank Corp. has a 52-week low of $43.28 and a 52-week high of $68.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.90.

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

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This is a positive change from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on INDB. TheStreet cut Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Independent Bank from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $42,264.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,941.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.