Natural Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Key Points

• Natural Investments LLC has increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 176%, acquiring an additional 8,874 shares valued at approximately $2,400,000.
• Various hedge funds, including Brighton Jones LLC and Bank of Nova Scotia, have also significantly increased their stakes in Intercontinental Exchange, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts are optimistic about the company, with many raising their price targets; the average rating for Intercontinental Exchange is currently a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $194.92.

Natural Investments LLC lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 176.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,915 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,874 shares during the period. Natural Investments LLC's holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $2,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 132.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,204,309 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 423.8% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,546,437 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $677,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678,384 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 24,394.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,264,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,906,700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255,507 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 50.6% in the 1st 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. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,200,965 shares during the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ICE. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $180.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $181.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $194.92.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:ICE traded down $1.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $186.53. 2,783,624 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,563,729. The stock has a market cap of $106.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $181.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 23.92%. The business 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 firm earned $1.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,101,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at $376,667,570.10. This trade represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO James W. Namkung sold 612 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $110,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,379,600. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 226,913 shares of company stock valued at $40,671,107 over the last ninety days. 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.