Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Stock Price Target Raised at Morgan Stanley

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) had its target price boosted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $163.00 to $173.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.35% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on ICE. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $159.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $189.00 price objective (up from $182.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.08.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE ICE opened at $155.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.76. Intercontinental Exchange has a 12-month low of $121.79 and a 12-month high of $176.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. Intercontinental Exchange’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $256,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,538,080. This trade represents a 9.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Benjamin Jackson sold 12,862 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total transaction of $2,059,077.58. Following the sale, the president owned 164,264 shares in the company, valued at $26,297,023.76. This represents a 7.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,179 shares of company stock valued at $6,473,715 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICE. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth about $6,245,085,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter valued at about $714,869,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter valued at about $649,900,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter valued at about $521,557,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Company Profile

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.