Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $193.00.

A number of research firms have recently commented on ICE. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $201.00 target price (up from $198.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, 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.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ICE opened at $133.76 on Monday. Intercontinental Exchange has a twelve month low of $132.84 and a twelve month high of $189.35. The company has a market cap of $75.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.60.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.12. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total value of $390,033.60. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.56, for a total transaction of $693,083.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 45,473 shares in the company, valued at $6,891,887.88. This represents a 9.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have 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 owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,770,647,000 after buying an additional 413,639 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in 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 valued at $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 837,208 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,571,212,000 after purchasing an additional 158,450 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 64.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,354,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,744,480,000 after purchasing an additional 4,067,922 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

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.