R Squared Ltd Acquires 4,951 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

R Squared Ltd boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 292.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,951 shares during the period. Intercontinental Exchange accounts for approximately 0.6% of R Squared Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. R Squared Ltd’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $1,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 10,170.4% in the first quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 349,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,970,000 after acquiring an additional 346,099 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 15.0% during the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,795,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,936,000 after acquiring an additional 268,254 shares during the last quarter. Collaborative Fund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the first quarter valued at approximately $430,000. Finally, Abel Hall LLC raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 43.0% during the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ICE. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, Director Sharon Bowen sold 667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total transaction of $100,903.76. Following the sale, the director owned 15,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,280,848.56. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 4,271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.42, for a total value of $663,798.82. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 64,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,081,939.98. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 13,425 shares of company stock valued at $2,046,324 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

NYSE ICE traded up $2.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $137.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,546,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,990,811. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.79 and a twelve month high of $189.35. The company has a market capitalization of $77.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $144.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.42.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 14.99% and a net margin of 30.06%.The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is a global operator of exchanges, clearing houses and data services that provides infrastructure for the trading, clearing, settlement and information needs of financial and commodity markets. Founded in 2000 by Jeffrey C. Sprecher as an electronic energy trading platform, the company has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions to operate a broad portfolio of assets spanning listed equities, futures and options, fixed income, and over-the-counter derivatives.