Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $255,000 in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 219.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,146,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,336,371,000 after buying an additional 8,348,126 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter worth about $579,605,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,114,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,755,753,000 after buying an additional 5,354,161 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,406,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,606,466,000 after buying an additional 4,044,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 59.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,275,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,869,000 after buying an additional 1,589,999 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ICE traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $131.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,263,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,162,513. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $136.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.42. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.81 and a 12-month high of $140.43. The firm has a market cap of $75.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.02.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 23.91%. Intercontinental Exchange’s quarterly revenue was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ICE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays increased their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $153.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $156.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $135.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 7,070 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total transaction of $962,156.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,501,742.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Intercontinental Exchange news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 7,070 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total transaction of $962,156.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 18,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,501,742.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Intercontinental Exchange, Inc bought 2,762,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were bought 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 worth $21,454,204 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.