Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $4.44 Million Investment in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 34,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the third quarter worth $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the third quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth $35,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ICE traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $133.55. The stock had a trading volume of 3,255,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,517,546. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.81 and a 1 year high of $140.43. The firm has a market cap of $76.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average is $136.22 and its 200 day moving average is $123.89.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 23.91% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Intercontinental Exchange's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Intercontinental Exchange's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ICE. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $142.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Intercontinental Exchange currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 58,388 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total value of $8,011,417.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,179,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $161,893,392.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 58,388 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $8,011,417.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,179,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $161,893,392.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Intercontinental Exchange, Inc bought 2,762,009 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $0.87 per share, for a total transaction of $2,402,947.83. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,476,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,504,420.15. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 157,491 shares of company stock valued at $21,454,204 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.