Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 5,575 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,615 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,575 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $11,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ICE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,228,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,782,521,000 after purchasing an additional 538,670 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,651,598 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,799,393,000 after purchasing an additional 281,503 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,883,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,765,317,000 after buying an additional 327,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter valued at $1,196,258,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 8.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,265,020 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $865,455,000 after buying an additional 390,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ICE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $237.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $178.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $179.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $189.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $182.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Benjamin Jackson sold 5,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.71, for a total transaction of $965,757.88. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 164,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,183,234.11. This represents a 3.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher Scott Edmonds sold 601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total transaction of $88,785.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,922 shares in the company, valued at $1,908,967.06. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,563 shares of company stock worth $10,998,990 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock traded down $2.81 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $154.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,979,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,594. The company has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.09. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.34 and a 1-year high of $177.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.57.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.01). Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 12.95%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange's payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

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.