Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE Stake Boosted by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 4.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,510,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 137,685 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $644,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 4,050.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter worth about $29,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Duriya M. Farooqui sold 2,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.34, for a total transaction of $363,100.24. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,299 shares in the company, valued at $2,550,083.66. This trade represents a 12.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 3,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.33, for a total value of $686,570.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 46,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,255,430.69. This trade represents a 7.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 175,258 shares of company stock valued at $27,146,307. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ICE. Barclays set a $183.00 price target on Intercontinental Exchange and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial raised Intercontinental Exchange from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $194.70.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ICE opened at $154.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $88.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.04. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.29 and a fifty-two week high of $189.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.71. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 23.92% and a return on equity of 13.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Intercontinental Exchange’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange 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.