Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stake in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,957,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 203,228 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $379,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 56,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,311,000 after purchasing an additional 12,208 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 7.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 126,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,956,000 after buying an additional 8,320 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,235,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,738,000 after acquiring an additional 105,042 shares during the period. First County Bank CT boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 2.7% during the third quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 3,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 22,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after buying an additional 11,809 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $156.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Intercontinental Exchange has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 500 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.83, for a total transaction of $69,415.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,326 shares in the company, valued at $2,544,198.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,544,198.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO James W. Namkung sold 1,182 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,763.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 157,491 shares of company stock valued at $21,454,204 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 0.7 %

ICE stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $130.78. 1,557,866 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,376,438. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $135.86 and a 200-day moving average of $125.38. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.81 and a 52-week high of $140.43.

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

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is an increase from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.86%.

Intercontinental Exchange 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.