Leonteq Securities AG Invests $1.30 Million in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Key Points

• Leonteq Securities AG opened a new position in Intercontinental Exchange, buying 8,009 shares valued at about $1.3 million in the fourth quarter.
• Several large institutional investors also increased their ICE holdings, and 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Intercontinental Exchange reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.35 and revenue of $3.67 billion, both ahead of expectations; analysts currently rate the stock a Buy on consensus with a $194.60 price target.

Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,297,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,770,647,000 after buying an additional 413,639 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,816,744 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,181,125,000 after buying an additional 194,325 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 64.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,354,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,744,480,000 after buying an additional 4,067,922 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 15.2% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,028,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,184,238,000 after buying an additional 928,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 6.9% in the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 5,677,266 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $956,506,000 after buying an additional 364,227 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total value of $390,033.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 25,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,945,604.96. The trade was a 9.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 4,271 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.42, for a total value of $663,798.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 64,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,081,939.98. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 11,332 shares of company stock valued at $1,794,334 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ICE. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $194.60.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $151.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.02. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12 month low of $143.17 and a 12 month high of $189.35.

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

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.

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