UBS Group AG Increases Position in Independent Bank Corp. $INDB

UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,514 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,517 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $9,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 14.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,943,817 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $411,134,000 after buying an additional 769,086 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 10.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,606,415 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $180,286,000 after buying an additional 250,651 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 57.9% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,703,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,102,000 after buying an additional 624,833 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 84.1% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 1,261,622 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,199,000 after buying an additional 576,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,046,475 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,476,000 after buying an additional 13,935 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on INDB shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $97.00 price target on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Independent Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Independent Bank from $96.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Independent Bank has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.71.

Independent Bank Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of INDB opened at $76.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.23. Independent Bank Corp. has a twelve month low of $57.01 and a twelve month high of $87.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.78.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:INDB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.70 by ($0.02). Independent Bank had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $252.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $251.45 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Independent Bank Corp. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 30th were issued a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. Independent Bank’s payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

About Independent Bank

Independent Bank Group, Inc (NASDAQ:INDB) is a bank holding company headquartered in McKinney, Texas, that provides a range of financial services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Independent Bank. Tracing its roots to the late 19th century, the company has grown from a single community bank into a regional financial institution serving individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. Independent Bank Group became a bank holding company in 1983 and expanded its footprint through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

The company’s primary business activities encompass retail and commercial banking, including deposit products, consumer and business lending and credit services.