Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $185.93.

ICE has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $181.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $189.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Activity

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, President Benjamin Jackson sold 7,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.43, for a total transaction of $1,354,297.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 147,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,247,181.82. The trade was a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Judith A. Sprieser sold 2,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.00, for a total value of $418,170.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,396,876. This trade represents a 10.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,368 shares of company stock valued at $7,077,789 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,132,211,000 after buying an additional 712,179 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,883,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,765,317,000 after buying an additional 327,637 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 132.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,121,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,173,000 after buying an additional 5,204,309 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,196,258,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,422,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,953,000 after buying an additional 655,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE stock opened at $176.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $167.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.23. The stock has a market cap of $101.01 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.12. Intercontinental Exchange has a 1 year low of $131.79 and a 1 year high of $179.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 23.42%. Intercontinental Exchange’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.75%.

Intercontinental Exchange Company Profile

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of market infrastructure, data services, and technology solutions for financial institutions, corporations, and government entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi, Israel, and Canada.