Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Bank of America raised Intercontinental Exchange from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $129.91.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of ICE opened at $97.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $54.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.44. Intercontinental Exchange has a 12-month low of $88.60 and a 12-month high of $137.40.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 13.11% and a net margin of 15.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio is 65.37%.

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 81,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $8,511,644.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,203,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,146,878.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 81,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $8,511,644.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,203,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,146,878.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.80, for a total value of $167,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,251,208.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 227,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,289,000 after purchasing an additional 19,098 shares during the last quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Willow Creek Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 335,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,378,000 after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.28% of the company’s stock.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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Intercontinental Exchange, Inc engages in the provision of market infrastructure, data services and technology solutions. It operates through the following segments: Exchanges, Fixed Income and Data Services, and Mortgage Technology. The Exchanges segment includes trading and listing revenue from the global futures network, the New York Stock Exchange and other registered securities exchanges.