Raymond James & Associates Acquires 68,626 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,253,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,626 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $309,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 219.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,146,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,336,371,000 after acquiring an additional 8,348,126 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the 4th quarter worth $839,259,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,643,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,238,559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530,119 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 303.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,381,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,493 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 8,429,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621,737 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ICE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $142.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.08.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,406,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,893. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.81 and a 1-year high of $140.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.19. The stock has a market cap of $75.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.02.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 23.91% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.83, for a total value of $69,415.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,544,198.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO James W. Namkung sold 1,182 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.03, for a total value of $156,059.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,396 shares in the company, valued at $2,164,763.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.83, for a total value of $69,415.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,544,198.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 157,491 shares of company stock worth $21,454,204 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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.