Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 8.2%, owning 185,129 shares worth $32 million as of the last reporting period.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for ICE shares, with Piper Sandler setting a new target of $202 and a consensus target price of $194.92, indicating strong market confidence.
• Intercontinental Exchange recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 36.85%.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,129 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,060 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $32,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ICE. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 132.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,121,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,359,173,000 after acquiring an additional 5,204,309 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 423.8% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,546,437 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $677,465,000 after buying an additional 3,678,384 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the first quarter valued at $575,383,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 24,394.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,264,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,906,700,000 after buying an additional 2,255,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 50.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,933,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,023,534,000 after buying an additional 1,993,084 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.09, for a total transaction of $27,463,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,951,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,337,668.45. This trade represents a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.48, for a total transaction of $283,968.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,847,511.24. This trade represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 443,488 shares of company stock valued at $80,323,823 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ICE stock traded up $1.37 on Thursday, hitting $182.78. The stock had a trading volume of 6,072,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,742. The business has a 50 day moving average of $181.97 and a 200 day moving average of $173.23. The stock has a market cap of $104.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.29 and a 12-month high of $189.35.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Intercontinental Exchange's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ICE shares. 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 research note on Friday, May 2nd. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 15th. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $194.92.

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.