L2 Asset Management LLC Takes $397,000 Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

L2 Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ICE. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 191,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,041,000 after buying an additional 10,742 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter valued at about $6,245,085,000. USS Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 37.2% during the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 946,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,960,000 after acquiring an additional 256,851 shares during the period. Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 124,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,244,000 after acquiring an additional 15,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 437,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,802,000 after acquiring an additional 40,240 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,491 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.30, for a total transaction of $389,343.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,547,697.40. This represents a 9.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $256,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 17,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,794,080. The trade was a 8.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 17,227 shares of company stock worth $2,598,301 in the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ICE. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price objective on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $182.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.33.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $161.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.79 and a 1 year high of $179.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.53. The firm has a market cap of $90.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.92.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.