Norges Bank Invests $1.20 Billion in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 8,028,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,196,258,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ICE. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $179.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $189.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $178.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.80.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.5 %

ICE stock opened at $176.56 on Friday. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a one year low of $124.34 and a one year high of $177.45. The stock has a market cap of $101.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $166.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $160.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.01). Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 23.42%. Equities analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Intercontinental Exchange’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christopher Scott Edmonds sold 601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total transaction of $88,785.73. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,908,967.06. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 5,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.59, for a total value of $835,506.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 66,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,821,819.32. This trade represents a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,563 shares of company stock valued at $10,998,990. 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.