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

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $191.20.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $211.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $188.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays set a $193.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE stock opened at $163.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $161.19 and its 200 day moving average is $160.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Intercontinental Exchange has a 52-week low of $143.17 and a 52-week high of $189.35.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 26.23% and a return on equity of 13.99%. Intercontinental Exchange’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 16th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange’s payout ratio is currently 36.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, President Benjamin Jackson sold 12,861 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $2,122,065.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 165,692 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,339,180. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lynn C. Martin sold 13,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.86, for a total value of $2,070,340.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 54,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,357,521.34. The trade was a 19.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 348,418 shares of company stock valued at $54,196,631. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,770,647,000 after purchasing an additional 413,639 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 54,107,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,154,914,000 after purchasing an additional 837,208 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,571,212,000 after buying an additional 158,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 64.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,354,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,744,480,000 after buying an additional 4,067,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is a global operator of exchanges, clearing houses and data services that provides infrastructure for the trading, clearing, settlement and information needs of financial and commodity markets. Founded in 2000 by Jeffrey C. Sprecher as an electronic energy trading platform, the company has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to operate a broad portfolio of assets spanning listed equities, futures and options, fixed income, and over-the-counter derivatives.