L & S Advisors Inc Takes $1.55 Million Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• L & S Advisors Inc has invested approximately $1.55 million in Intercontinental Exchange Inc., acquiring 9,003 shares in the first quarter.
• Intercontinental Exchange reported an EPS of $1.81 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.77, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.8%.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 39.75%.

L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,003 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,553,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ICE. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 worth $1,359,173,000 after purchasing an additional 5,204,309 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,422,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,105,953,000 after purchasing an additional 655,247 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 6,160,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $918,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062,904 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 50.6% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,993,084 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,721,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $852,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,965 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ICE. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $181.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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 raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Three equities research 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, Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $194.92.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ICE stock traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 637,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,981,382. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $181.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.90. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.29 and a 52 week high of $189.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $107.79 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.11.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.48, for a total value of $283,968.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 27,313 shares in the company, valued at $4,847,511.24. This trade represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,101,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,667,570.10. This trade 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 quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.