Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Short Interest Update

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 824,900 shares, a growth of 14.4% from the March 31st total of 721,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 308,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on INDB shares. TheStreet cut Independent Bank from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Independent Bank from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Donna L. Abelli sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.83, for a total transaction of $42,264.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,941.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independent Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in INDB. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Independent Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Independent Bank by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,598 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in Independent Bank during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independent Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Independent Bank Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ INDB traded down $1.63 during trading on Monday, hitting $51.10. 170,464 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,486. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Independent Bank has a 12-month low of $43.28 and a 12-month high of $68.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.83.

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 is an increase from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.