Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Holdings in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 21,900 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,441,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Independent Bank by 7.9% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,854 shares of the bank’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its position in Independent Bank by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 543 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Independent Bank by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,404 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Toroso Investments LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 7,596 shares of the bank’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, NBW Capital LLC raised its holdings in Independent Bank by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 35,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,015,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

INDB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet downgraded Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Independent Bank from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Independent Bank

In other Independent Bank news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of Independent Bank stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.83, for a total transaction of $42,264.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,941.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ INDB opened at $50.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Independent Bank Corp. has a 1 year low of $43.28 and a 1 year high of $68.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.88. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.83.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The bank reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. Independent Bank had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $177.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.75 million. On average, analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This is a boost from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is 44.02%.

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.