Boston, MA 09/19/2014 (wallstreetpr) – A banking holding company, Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) announced that its Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of 24 cents a share for the September quarter. This indicates that the company has increased its dividend by two cents a share on a year-over-year basis, but maintains its quarter-over-quarter dividend.
However, Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB)’s average growth rate in dividend for the three-year, as well as, five-year period indicated a steady growth as the bank holding company seems to be adopting a conservative approach towards dividend payment.
Dividend Payment
Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) disclosed that the dividend of 24 cents would be paid in cash to the shareholders, whose name appears in the books of record as on September 28, its statement revealed. The stock would become ex-dividend from September 25. The company has set October 10 for paying a dividend to all the eligible shareholders.
The latest dividend works out to 96 cents a share on an annualized basis and offers yield of 2.6% while the projected ten-year dividend yield would jump to 4.6%. The five-year average dividend yield also represented 2.8% while the dividend payout ratio worked out 41%, which was moderately higher than the average five-year dividend payout ratio of 40%.
Dividend Growth And History
The latest dividend meant that Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) has been increasing its dividend consistently in the last three-year, as well as, five-year period. While the three-year average dividend growth rate was 7.53%, the five-year average dividend growth rate worked out to 5.07%.
A decade ago, Independent Bank was paying a dividend of 14 cents a share for a quarter, according to Nasdaq data. This was lifted to 18 cents a share in the next five-year period. Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) has maintained this dividend for 12 straight quarters at the height of a financial crisis.
In December 2010, Independent Bank has lifted its dividend by one cent to 19 cents a share and paid the same in next three quarters. It was increased to 21 cents a share in March 2012 and to 22 cents a share in March 2013.
One of the strong points was that Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) has not failed to pay dividend even at the worst financial crisis that the world has seen. It adopts a very conservative approach towards paying dividend as it increased dividend only by cent by cent over the period.
