Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE Shares Sold by DNB Asset Management AS

Key Points

• DNB Asset Management AS cut its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 47.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 122,779 shares and leaving it with 134,591 shares valued at about $21.8 million.
• Several other institutions also adjusted holdings, and overall institutional investors own 89.30% of ICE’s stock, indicating heavy ownership by funds and hedge funds.
• Analysts remain constructive on ICE: the stock has a consensus Buy rating with a $194.10 price target, while the company also reported better-than-expected Q1 results with EPS of $2.35 and revenue of $3.67 billion.

DNB Asset Management AS lowered its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) by 47.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,591 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 122,779 shares during the quarter. DNB Asset Management AS's holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $21,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter worth approximately $721,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 11,479 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 105.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 685,020 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $110,946,000 after acquiring an additional 352,345 shares during the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 71,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,756,000 after acquiring an additional 4,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 765,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $124,034,000 after acquiring an additional 47,473 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ICE has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $211.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $188.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $201.00 target price (up from $198.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $194.10.

Insider Transactions at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, insider Lynn C. Martin sold 13,456 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.86, for a total value of $2,070,340.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,319 shares in the company, valued at $8,357,521.34. This trade represents a 19.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 150,000 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $23,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,651,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,014,275. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 330,835 shares of company stock worth $51,275,650 over the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

NYSE:ICE opened at $154.48 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $159.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.94. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 1-year low of $143.17 and a 1-year high of $189.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $87.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.96.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.06% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. Intercontinental Exchange's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

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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