Brokerages Set Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Target Price at $148.29

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $148.29.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $156.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $156.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $137.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $78.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $134.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.51. Intercontinental Exchange has a fifty-two week low of $104.49 and a fifty-two week high of $140.43.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 24.24%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Intercontinental Exchange’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $44,923.34. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 48,713 shares in the company, valued at $6,417,450.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 58,388 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $8,011,417.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,179,895 shares in the company, valued at $161,893,392.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $44,923.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 48,713 shares in the company, valued at $6,417,450.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,996 shares of company stock valued at $8,361,411. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Intercontinental Exchange

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 219.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,146,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,336,371,000 after purchasing an additional 8,348,126 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter worth approximately $839,259,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,776,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,978,218,000 after buying an additional 3,536,913 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,643,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,238,559,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530,119 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 303.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,381,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,493 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Company 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.