Candriam S.C.A. Cuts Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Candriam S.C.A. decreased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 445,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 62,394 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $70,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,892,000 after acquiring an additional 4,628 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.4% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ICE has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Intercontinental Exchange from $193.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $201.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.33.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ICE opened at $134.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $142.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.59. The stock has a market cap of $76.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.94. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a one year low of $121.79 and a one year high of $189.35.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.56, for a total transaction of $693,083.88. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 45,473 shares in the company, valued at $6,891,887.88. The trade was a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total transaction of $390,033.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,945,604.96. This represents a 9.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 13,425 shares of company stock worth $2,046,324 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Key Intercontinental Exchange News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intercontinental Exchange this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reiterated an Overweight view and raised its price target to $180, while UBS and Goldman Sachs recently also issued bullish targets, signaling Wall Street still sees upside in ICE’s core exchange and data businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: Social-media and market commentary continue to highlight ICE’s strong earnings growth, relatively low valuation versus peers, and expansion initiatives in futures and tokenized equities, which support the long-term bull case.
• Neutral Sentiment: ICE’s coffee futures market is in the spotlight after the company raised margin requirements for coffee trading, contributing to sharp swings in arabica and robusta coffee prices. That move is boosting attention on ICE’s role in commodities markets, though the direct stock impact is less clear.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary also notes ICE’s Q1 revenue grew 13.5% year over year to about $3.7 billion, showing the business remains fundamentally healthy ahead of its next earnings update.
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut its price target to $163 from $187 and kept an Equal Weight rating, reflecting more cautious near-term expectations for the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have also pointed to softer June volume trends and weaker trading activity in some futures segments, which has led to estimate cuts and is weighing on investor sentiment before ICE’s late-July earnings report.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling remains a mild overhang, with ICE executives and directors having made no open-market purchases over the past six months.

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.