AlphaQuest LLC Sells 9,919 Shares of Independent Bank Co. (NASDAQ:IBCP)

AlphaQuest LLC decreased its stake in Independent Bank Co. (NASDAQ:IBCP) by 41.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,919 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Independent Bank were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 3,383.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,110,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $386,970,000 after buying an additional 10,791,263 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,034,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,510,000 after buying an additional 69,504 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 647,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,597,000 after buying an additional 29,475 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 499,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Independent Bank by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 349,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,660,000 after purchasing an additional 77,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Independent Bank from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Independent Bank in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Independent Bank Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of IBCP opened at $30.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $636.22 million, a P/E ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.73. Independent Bank Co. has a twelve month low of $22.53 and a twelve month high of $40.32.

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:IBCP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.10. Independent Bank had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 15.43%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Independent Bank Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Independent Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. This is a boost from Independent Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Independent Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.91%.

Independent Bank Profile

Independent Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Independent Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in rural and suburban communities in Michigan. It offers checking and savings accounts, commercial lending, direct and indirect consumer financing, mortgage lending, and safe deposit box services.