Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 12,528 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,491,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,528 shares during the quarter. Intercontinental Exchange accounts for 1.0% of Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $251,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ICE. Norges Bank bought a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter valued at $1,542,780,000. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 97.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 5,313,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $974,783,000 after purchasing an additional 2,620,310 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 29,199.5% during the 2nd quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,652,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,129,000 after buying an additional 1,646,562 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 179.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,472,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $416,544,000 after buying an additional 1,586,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 55.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,781,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $510,330,000 after buying an additional 994,316 shares during the period. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Intercontinental Exchange News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Intercontinental Exchange this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Kraken integration — Kraken has integrated with ICE Chat to expand institutional OTC crypto access, which advances ICE’s push into crypto infrastructure and could boost trading/data volumes over time. Kraken Integrates with ICE Chat
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals & analyst support — ICE recently reported an EPS beat and revenue above expectations, continues to pay a quarterly dividend, and retains a mostly positive analyst consensus/price targets, providing fundamental support under the stock. MarketBeat Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Pune office lease — ICE’s India arm leased space for a global capability center in Pune (commercial real estate move that supports operations expansion but is not material to near-term earnings). ICE leases Pune GCC space
• Neutral Sentiment: Small institutional flows — Recent filings show many small, new institutional stakes; institutional ownership remains high (~89%), but recent buys/sells cited are immaterial at scale. Institutional activity
• Negative Sentiment: Large CEO selling — CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold significant blocks of shares (reported filings show ~150,000 and ~129,937-share dispositions around Feb 18). Large CEO sales are the most likely proximate cause of today’s negative sentiment. CEO SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: CTO sale — CTO Mayur Kapani sold 15,213 shares (~$2.36M) on Feb 18, a ~19% reduction in his holding. CTO SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Other executive selling — Additional insider sales reported: President Benjamin Jackson (3,865 sh), CFO Warren Gardiner (2,490 sh), and insider Christopher Scott Edmonds (11,303 sh). These clustered sales amplify negative investor perception even though executives retain sizable holdings. President SEC filing CFO SEC filing Insider Edmonds SEC filing

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE stock opened at $154.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $164.58 and its 200 day moving average is $164.38. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a one year low of $143.17 and a one year high of $189.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $87.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.02.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 13.99% and a net margin of 26.23%.The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 16th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange’s payout ratio is 33.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ICE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $211.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $202.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $195.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $383,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,262,566. This represents a 8.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 15,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total value of $2,358,319.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 64,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,055,992.38. This trade represents a 19.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 341,036 shares of company stock valued at $53,068,762 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Intercontinental Exchange Profile

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.