UPDATE: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Independent Bank Following Management Meetings

In a report published Friday, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Collyn Gilbert upgraded the rating on

from Market Perform to Outperform, and raised the price target from $40.00 to $44.00. In the report, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods noted, “This week, we spent time with the management team of Independent Bank Corp, specifically, the CEO, Chris Oddleifson, and CFO, Rob Cozzone. We left our meetings with increased confidence in the strength of Independent's current market position, sustainability of growth (both organically and acquisitively), favorable interest rate risk position, and potential scalability of its wealth business. Given this view, we are raising our rating on INDB shares to OP from MP, and raising our target price to $44 from $40.” Independent Bank closed on Thursday at $38.11.