Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.48 Per Share

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.48 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. This is a boost from Intercontinental Exchange’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Intercontinental Exchange has raised its dividend by an average of 10.9% per year over the last three years. Intercontinental Exchange has a dividend payout ratio of 24.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Intercontinental Exchange to earn $6.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.1%.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE opened at $160.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $92.28 billion, a PE ratio of 38.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $153.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.74. Intercontinental Exchange has a 12-month low of $124.34 and a 12-month high of $167.99.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.01). Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 21.31%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, President Benjamin Jackson sold 5,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $932,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 156,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,986,080. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Stuart Glen Williams sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total transaction of $114,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 sold 13,795 shares of company stock worth $2,120,572 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ICE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $189.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.27.

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.