Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 82,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $10,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,919,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,162,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012,034 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,406,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,606,466,000 after purchasing an additional 4,044,744 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,114,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,755,753,000 after purchasing an additional 5,354,161 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 8,348,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.2% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,503,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,092,660,000 after purchasing an additional 127,481 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.00, for a total value of $295,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,296. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.00, for a total value of $295,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,296. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Elizabeth Kathryn King sold 3,783 shares of the firm’s 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 $499,469.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,276,461.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 157,491 shares of company stock valued at $21,454,204 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ICE shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $142.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.08.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $130.59 on Thursday. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.81 and a 1 year high of $140.43. 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 company has a market capitalization of $74.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average is $136.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.22.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 23.91%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a boost from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.86%.

Intercontinental Exchange Company 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.