Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Raises Dividend to $0.59 Per Share

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.59 per share by the bank on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a 3.5% increase from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57.

Independent Bank has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Independent Bank has a payout ratio of 34.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Independent Bank to earn $6.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.2%.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

Shares of INDB opened at $63.19 on Friday. Independent Bank has a 52 week low of $45.11 and a 52 week high of $77.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $66.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The bank reported $1.21 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Independent Bank will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on INDB. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up from $74.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Independent Bank from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Independent Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

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.