LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Raises Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 97.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,105 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $11,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ICONIQ Capital LLC lifted its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.2% in the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 6,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $994,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total transaction of $390,033.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,945,604.96. This trade represents a 9.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.56, for a total value of $693,083.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 45,473 shares in the company, valued at $6,891,887.88. This trade represents a 9.14% 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 worth $2,046,324 over the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Intercontinental Exchange

Here are the key news stories impacting Intercontinental Exchange this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reiterated an Overweight view and raised its price target to $180, while UBS and Goldman Sachs recently also issued bullish targets, signaling Wall Street still sees upside in ICE’s core exchange and data businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: Social-media and market commentary continue to highlight ICE’s strong earnings growth, relatively low valuation versus peers, and expansion initiatives in futures and tokenized equities, which support the long-term bull case.
• Neutral Sentiment: ICE’s coffee futures market is in the spotlight after the company raised margin requirements for coffee trading, contributing to sharp swings in arabica and robusta coffee prices. That move is boosting attention on ICE’s role in commodities markets, though the direct stock impact is less clear.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary also notes ICE’s Q1 revenue grew 13.5% year over year to about $3.7 billion, showing the business remains fundamentally healthy ahead of its next earnings update.
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut its price target to $163 from $187 and kept an Equal Weight rating, reflecting more cautious near-term expectations for the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have also pointed to softer June volume trends and weaker trading activity in some futures segments, which has led to estimate cuts and is weighing on investor sentiment before ICE’s late-July earnings report.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling remains a mild overhang, with ICE executives and directors having made no open-market purchases over the past six months.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Down 0.1%

Intercontinental Exchange stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $134.91. 3,013,578 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,842,965. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $76.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.59. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.79 and a 12 month high of $189.35.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.06% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $211.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $201.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $187.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.33.

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.