Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 36,600 Shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB - Free Report) by 15.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 200,287 shares of the bank's stock after selling 36,600 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Independent Bank worth $11,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INDB. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Independent Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $222,000. Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Independent Bank in the second quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Independent Bank during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $257,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Independent Bank by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,378 shares of the bank's stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in Independent Bank by 59.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,737 shares of the bank's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

INDB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Independent Bank from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $74.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Independent Bank from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.00.

Independent Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ:INDB traded down $0.89 during trading on Monday, reaching $64.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 136,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,762. The firm has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.76. Independent Bank Corp. has a 12 month low of $45.11 and a 12 month high of $77.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.89 and a 200-day moving average of $61.52.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $250.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.24 million. Independent Bank had a net margin of 20.26% and a return on equity of 6.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Independent Bank Corp. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Independent Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.57%.

Independent Bank 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.