Brokerages Set Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Price Target at $76.50

Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $76.50.

Several analysts have recently commented on INDB shares. Independent Research set a $80.00 target price on Independent Bank in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Independent Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays cut Independent Bank from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Independent Bank in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Insider Activity at Independent Bank

In other news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $44,540.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,125,995. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas R. Venables sold 405 shares of Independent Bank stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.93, for a total value of $29,941.65. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,519,779.01. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 200,929 shares of company stock valued at $14,016,022. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independent Bank

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INDB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Independent Bank by 14.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,943,817 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $411,134,000 after acquiring an additional 769,086 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,606,415 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $180,286,000 after purchasing an additional 250,651 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 57.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,703,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,102,000 after purchasing an additional 624,833 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 84.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 1,261,622 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,199,000 after purchasing an additional 576,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Independent Bank by 0.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,049,086 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,980,000 after purchasing an additional 6,889 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Independent Bank stock opened at $86.01 on Thursday. Independent Bank has a fifty-two week low of $52.15 and a fifty-two week high of $87.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 0.80.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a net margin of 17.51% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm had revenue of $253.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.64 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Independent Bank will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 29th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.03%.

About Independent Bank

Independent Bank Group, Inc (NASDAQ:INDB) is a bank holding company headquartered in McKinney, Texas, that provides a range of financial services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Independent Bank. Tracing its roots to the late 19th century, the company has grown from a single community bank into a regional financial institution serving individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. Independent Bank Group became a bank holding company in 1983 and expanded its footprint through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

The company’s primary business activities encompass retail and commercial banking, including deposit products, consumer and business lending and credit services.