Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) by 1.4% during Q1, now owning over 3.27 million shares valued at approximately $565 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have modified their holdings in ICE, with a significant increase in investments, suggesting a strong institutional interest as institutional investors control 89.30% of the company's stock.
• Intercontinental Exchange recently declared a $0.48 quarterly dividend, indicating a 1.0% dividend yield with a payout ratio of 36.85%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,277,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 44,320 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.57% of Intercontinental Exchange worth $565,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,359,173,000 after acquiring an additional 5,204,309 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,678,384 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 24,394.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,264,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,906,700,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,507 shares during 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 during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,721,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $852,578,000 after buying an additional 1,200,965 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.22, for a total transaction of $26,883,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,101,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,667,570.10. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.48, for a total value of $283,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,313 shares in the company, valued at $4,847,511.24. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,913 shares of company stock valued at $40,671,107. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Down 0.8%

Intercontinental Exchange stock traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $186.53. The stock had a trading volume of 2,783,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,563,729. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.11. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.29 and a fifty-two week high of $189.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $181.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.65. 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 (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The business 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%. Intercontinental Exchange's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. 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 report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $194.92.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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.