Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has lowered its price target for Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) from $192.00 to $188.00, maintaining an "equal weight" rating on the stock.
• The stock has seen a drop of 2.7%, now trading at $164.00, with various analysts providing a range of price targets and ratings from "overweight" to "buy."
• Institutional investors hold a significant majority (89.30%) of the company's shares, with notable increases in holdings from firms like Vanguard and Price T Rowe Associates in the last quarter.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $192.00 to $188.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 14.63% from the company's current price.

ICE has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $180.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $197.00.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Down 2.7%

Intercontinental Exchange stock traded down $4.48 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $164.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,342,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,987,252. Intercontinental Exchange has a 1-year low of $142.29 and a 1-year high of $189.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average is $177.79 and its 200 day moving average is $174.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.62, for a total transaction of $280,992.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 25,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,530,293.52. This represents a 5.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Judith A. Sprieser sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.51, for a total value of $506,079.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,169 shares in the company, valued at $3,170,672.19. The trade was a 13.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 230,874 shares of company stock worth $42,187,714 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,685,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,849,677,000 after buying an additional 745,135 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,438,154 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,270,657,000 after acquiring an additional 145,961 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,542,780,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 491.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,433,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,109,780,000 after purchasing an additional 5,345,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,315,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,060,574,000 after purchasing an additional 810,938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.30% of the company's stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Company 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.

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