Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Stake in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,921 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $5,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ICE. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 326.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,520,639 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $726,196,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460,096 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter valued at about $406,728,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,846,421 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,260,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,401,630 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 2,293.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,215,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $330,171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123,185 shares during the period. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 1,237.7% during the 4th quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,701,585 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $253,591,000 after buying an additional 1,574,386 shares during the period. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ICE shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $189.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $179.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.80.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Intercontinental Exchange stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $175.69. 2,574,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,601,581. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.26. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.34 and a fifty-two week high of $176.74.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.01). Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 23.42%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 5,661 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.59, for a total value of $835,506.99. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 66,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,821,819.32. The trade was a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Benjamin Jackson sold 7,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.43, for a total value of $1,354,297.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 147,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,247,181.82. This represents a 5.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,563 shares of company stock valued at $10,998,990 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.