Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 (NYSE:ICE)

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 10th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th.

Intercontinental Exchange has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.9% per year over the last three years. Intercontinental Exchange has a dividend payout ratio of 25.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Intercontinental Exchange to earn $7.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.1%.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE ICE opened at $167.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $96.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. Intercontinental Exchange has a 12 month low of $124.34 and a 12 month high of $169.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.06.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share 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 research analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 10,580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.47, for a total value of $1,761,252.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,661,008.24. The trade was a 32.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Stuart Glen Williams sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total transaction of $114,742.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,780 shares in the company, valued at $1,955,212.20. This represents a 5.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,358 shares of company stock worth $5,535,650 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ICE. Raymond James downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $189.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $179.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $178.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.80.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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.