MUFG Securities EMEA plc Reduces Stock Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• MUFG Securities EMEA plc reduced its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 74.7%, holding 58,000 shares following the sale of 170,999 shares in the first quarter.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for Intercontinental Exchange, with Barclays raising its target to $212.00 and UBS Group to $210.00, indicating a generally positive outlook.
• Intercontinental Exchange announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, with a yield of 1.0%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 36.85%.

MUFG Securities EMEA plc reduced its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 74.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 170,999 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc's holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $10,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fielder Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 2,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,639 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Values Added Financial LLC increased its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 1,533 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 501 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 0.2%

ICE stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $185.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,036,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,624,064. The stock has a market cap of $106.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.11. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.29 and a 12 month high of $189.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.76.

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

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 3,848 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.12, for a total value of $689,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 48,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,683,737.60. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.22, for a total value of $26,883,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,101,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $376,667,570.10. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 226,913 shares of company stock worth $40,671,107 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ICE. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $180.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $194.92.

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.