Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 0.9%, selling 4,951 shares and now holding 529,008 shares valued at approximately $91.25 million.
• Institutional ownership of Intercontinental Exchange is high, with 89.30% of its stock owned by institutional investors, including significant purchases by Activest Wealth Management and Vident Advisory.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Intercontinental Exchange, with Barclays setting a new target of $212.00, indicating a generally positive outlook on the stock.

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 529,008 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,951 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Intercontinental Exchange worth $91,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Governors Lane LP raised its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 88.0% in the fourth quarter. Governors Lane LP now owns 127,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,939,000 after purchasing an additional 59,500 shares during the period. Tema Etfs LLC purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter valued at $1,107,000. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the first quarter valued at $349,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 18.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,879 shares during the period. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter valued at $28,949,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ICE shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $180.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $194.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.48, for a total transaction of $283,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 27,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,847,511.24. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Duriya M. Farooqui sold 2,036 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.34, for a total value of $363,100.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,550,083.66. This represents a 12.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 231,678 shares of company stock worth $42,358,043. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE ICE traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $174.92. 1,930,581 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,978,787. The company has a 50 day moving average of $181.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.29 and a 52-week high of $189.35. The firm has a market cap of $100.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.57, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.10.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 23.92%.Intercontinental Exchange's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Profile

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of market infrastructure, data services, and technology solutions for financial institutions, corporations, and government entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi, Israel, and Canada.