Plato Investment Management Ltd Invests $2.52 Million in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 20,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,521,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,770,647,000 after purchasing an additional 413,639 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,154,914,000 after buying an additional 837,208 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,571,212,000 after buying an additional 158,450 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter worth $1,418,228,000. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 0.1%

ICE stock opened at $154.55 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.76 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.92. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.79 and a 12 month high of $182.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $140.59 and its 200 day moving average is $152.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.06. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The business had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $208.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $187.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 7,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.88, for a total transaction of $1,086,824.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,063 shares in the company, valued at $2,838,099.44. This trade represents a 27.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total value of $390,033.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,945,604.96. This trade represents a 9.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,725 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,124 over the last 90 days. 0.84% 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.