Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Intercontinental Exchange has a “Moderate Buy” consensus from 12 analysts, with nine Buy ratings, two Hold ratings, and one Strong Buy. The average 12-month price target is about $185.33.
• Several brokerages recently trimmed their targets, including Goldman Sachs, TD Cowen, and UBS, though most kept Buy/Overweight ratings on the stock. The downward revisions suggest some caution despite overall positive sentiment.
• ICE reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $2.35 EPS on $3.67 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 20.4% year over year. However, the stock was trading down 1.5% and had recently been affected by insider share sales.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $185.3333.

A number of brokerages have commented on ICE. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $211.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $193.00 to $153.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.56, for a total transaction of $693,083.88. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 45,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,891,887.88. The trade was a 9.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sharon Bowen sold 667 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total transaction of $100,903.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,280,848.56. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,425 shares of company stock valued at $2,046,324. Insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,770,647,000 after purchasing an additional 413,639 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake 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 worth $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,154,914,000 after purchasing an additional 837,208 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,571,212,000 after buying an additional 158,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 64.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,354,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,744,480,000 after buying an additional 4,067,922 shares in the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ICE stock opened at $135.14 on Friday. Intercontinental Exchange has a 1 year low of $121.79 and a 1 year high of $189.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.73. 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 company has a market cap of $76.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.94.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.88 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 14.99% and a net margin of 30.06%.Intercontinental Exchange's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Company 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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