Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $184.17.

ICE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price objective (up from $159.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $211.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price objective on Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $182.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, July 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher Edmonds sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.59, for a total transaction of $802,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 14,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,307,196.53. This trade represents a 25.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Martha A. Tirinnanzi sold 1,340 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.16, for a total transaction of $215,954.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $603,866.52. This represents a 26.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 41,179 shares of company stock valued at $6,473,715 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 54,107,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,245,085,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,154,914,000 after buying an additional 837,208 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,812,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,454,209,000 after buying an additional 1,634,385 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,418,228,000. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

Shares of ICE opened at $152.15 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $155.21 and a 200-day moving average of $151.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $85.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.93. Intercontinental Exchange has a 1 year low of $121.79 and a 1 year high of $176.05.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.06. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 14.95% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc (NYSE:ICE) operates global exchanges, clearinghouses, data services and technology platforms. The company provides marketplaces and infrastructure that support the trading, clearing and management of risk across financial and commodity markets.

Its businesses include the New York Stock Exchange, ICE Futures exchanges and ICE Clear clearinghouses. ICE offers trading and clearing services for equities, equity options, interest rates, currencies, energy, agricultural commodities, metals and other contracts.