Heritage Trust Co Lowers Stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• Heritage Trust Co reduced its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 4.8% during Q1, now holding 29,171 shares valued at approximately $5 million.
• Insiders sold a total of 226,913 shares valued at over $40 million in the last quarter, indicating profit-taking amid recent stock performance.
• Intercontinental Exchange reported earnings of $1.81 per share, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 9.8% year-over-year revenue growth.

Heritage Trust Co decreased its position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,472 shares during the period. Heritage Trust Co's holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $5,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ICE. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 132.9% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,121,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,359,173,000 after buying an additional 5,204,309 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,422,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,105,953,000 after buying an additional 655,247 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 6,160,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $918,026,000 after buying an additional 1,062,904 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 50.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,933,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,023,534,000 after buying an additional 1,993,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,721,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $852,578,000 after buying an additional 1,200,965 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ICE. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $180.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $181.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $194.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James W. Namkung sold 612 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $110,160.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 13,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,379,600. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 3,848 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.12, for a total transaction of $689,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 48,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,683,737.60. This trade represents a 7.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,913 shares of company stock valued at $40,671,107. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Intercontinental Exchange stock traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.37. 698,878 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,982,385. The stock has a market cap of $107.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.11. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $181.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.29 and a 12-month high of $189.23.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 23.92% and a return on equity of 13.66%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Intercontinental Exchange's payout ratio is 36.85%.

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.