Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Given New $173.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Intercontinental Exchange from $163 to $173 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying 11.35% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: ICE has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $183.08, despite targets ranging from $159 to $218.
• ICE exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.90 in EPS versus the $1.84 estimate and $3.61 billion in revenue, up 4.8% year over year; however, insiders sold more than $6.4 million worth of shares over the past three months.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $163.00 to $173.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.35% from the company's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, October 2nd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $159.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $218.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Intercontinental Exchange from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $183.08.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE ICE opened at $155.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.94. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $155.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.76. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.06. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.81 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 4,271 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.20, for a total value of $645,775.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 67,988 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,279,785.60. The trade was a 5.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Douglas Foley sold 7,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.88, for a total value of $1,086,824.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 19,063 shares in the company, valued at $2,838,099.44. This trade represents a 27.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 41,179 shares of company stock worth $6,473,715 in the last three months. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ICE. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 53,798,055 shares in 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. acquired a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth about $714,869,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at approximately $649,900,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at approximately $521,557,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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