Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Director Judith Sprieser Sells 4,722 Shares

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Director Judith Sprieser sold 4,722 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.19, for a total value of $798,915.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,094.93. The trade was a 32.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.3%

Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $169.47 on Tuesday. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12-month low of $143.17 and a 12-month high of $189.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $165.44 and a 200 day moving average of $166.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 26.23% and a return on equity of 13.99%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 16th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the fourth 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. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,816,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,181,125,000 after buying an additional 194,325 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,438,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,270,657,000 after buying an additional 145,961 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 64.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,354,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,744,480,000 after buying an additional 4,067,922 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at about $1,542,780,000. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ICE shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $195.10.

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.