Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Has $640,000 Stake in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 65.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,975 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 3,950 shares during the period. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in INDB. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Independent Bank by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Independent Bank by 2.3% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 32,222 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,905,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Independent Bank by 45.1% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 3,107 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the third quarter worth $257,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter worth $435,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total value of $44,819.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $876,495.48. This represents a 4.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INDB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Independent Bank from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.00.

Independent Bank Price Performance

Shares of Independent Bank stock opened at $67.90 on Friday. 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 $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.83. Independent Bank Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $45.11 and a fifty-two week high of $77.23.

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

Independent Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is presently 50.44%.

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.