Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, October 2nd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $159.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $189.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective (up from $169.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $177.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.25.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

ICE opened at $157.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $155.85 and a 200 day moving average of $150.76. The stock has a market cap of $88.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Intercontinental Exchange has a 52-week low of $121.79 and a 52-week high of $176.05.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,574 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.77, for a total value of $739,935.98. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 43,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,966,625.05. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher Edmonds sold 5,000 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.59, for a total transaction of $802,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 14,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,307,196.53. The trade was a 25.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,179 shares of company stock valued at $6,473,715. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 53,798,055 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at about $6,245,085,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $714,869,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth $649,900,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the 2nd quarter worth about $521,557,000. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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.