Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) released its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 21.31% and a return on equity of 12.75%.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

ICE traded up $6.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $167.37. 4,412,720 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,096,782. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.74. The company has a market cap of $96.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Intercontinental Exchange has a twelve month low of $124.34 and a twelve month high of $169.75.

Intercontinental Exchange Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. This is an increase from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Intercontinental Exchange’s payout ratio is 42.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Intercontinental Exchange from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christopher Scott Edmonds sold 601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total value of $88,785.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,908,967.06. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief technology officer now owns 66,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,821,819.32. This represents a 7.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,795 shares of company stock valued at $2,120,572. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.