Prudential Financial Inc. Has $5.34 Million Stake in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,232 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,410 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.20% of Independent Bank worth $5,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in INDB. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Independent Bank by 106.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 25,077 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 12,904 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the third quarter valued at approximately $535,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 338,640 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,024,000 after acquiring an additional 126,791 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Independent Bank by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 206,079 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,228,000 after acquiring an additional 5,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Independent Bank during the 4th quarter valued at $5,586,000. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

INDB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total value of $44,819.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,516 shares in the company, valued at $876,495.48. This trade represents a 4.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ INDB opened at $62.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.31 and a 200-day moving average of $65.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 0.77. Independent Bank Corp. has a 52 week low of $45.11 and a 52 week high of $77.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.05. Independent Bank had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 6.57%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Independent Bank Corp. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.21%.

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.