Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE Shares Purchased by Chicago Capital LLC

Key Points

• Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.4% to 579,558 shares (about $93.9M), making ICE 2.3% of its portfolio and its 12th-largest holding.
• Significant insider selling: CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares (~$23.25M) and CTO Mayur Kapani sold 15,213 shares, with insiders offloading 348,418 shares (~$54.2M) in the past 90 days, leaving corporate insiders with 0.84% ownership.
• Analyst sentiment and results: the stock has a consensus "Buy" with an average target of $193.80; ICE recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue (EPS $1.71 vs $1.67 estimate; revenue $3.14B vs $2.51B) and pays a $0.52 quarterly dividend (1.3% yield).

Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 579,558 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,196 shares during the quarter. Intercontinental Exchange comprises 2.3% of Chicago Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Chicago Capital LLC owned about 0.10% of Intercontinental Exchange worth $93,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICE. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,396 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,213 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,892,000 after purchasing an additional 4,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 266,496 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,894,000 after purchasing an additional 6,373 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 15,213 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total transaction of $2,358,319.26. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 64,869 shares in the company, valued at $10,055,992.38. The trade was a 19.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $23,250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,651,705 shares in the company, valued at $256,014,275. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 348,418 shares of company stock valued at $54,196,631. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ICE. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $193.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Intercontinental Exchange from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $188.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $211.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $193.80.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

NYSE ICE opened at $161.00 on Friday. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $143.17 and a fifty-two week high of $189.35. The stock's 50-day moving average is $159.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $91.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.03.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 13.99% and a net margin of 26.23%.The company had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 16th. Intercontinental Exchange's payout ratio is currently 36.05%.

About Intercontinental Exchange

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.

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