Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $176.65 and last traded at $176.7320, with a volume of 3,869 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $174.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $190.00 to $187.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $163.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $189.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.25.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $98.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $158.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.63.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 29.62% and a return on equity of 15.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $256,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,538,080. This trade represents a 9.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher Edmonds sold 5,000 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.59, for a total transaction of $802,950.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,307,196.53. This represents a 25.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,309 shares of company stock worth $5,787,841 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Intercontinental Exchange

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter valued at $6,245,085,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter worth about $714,869,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter worth about $649,900,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter worth about $521,557,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the 2nd quarter worth about $474,012,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc (NYSE:ICE) is a global operator of exchanges, clearinghouses, data services and technology platforms. The company owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges serving equity, options, futures and over-the-counter markets. Its marketplaces support trading in areas including energy, agricultural commodities, interest rates, currencies, equity indexes and individual stocks.

ICE also provides clearing and settlement services that help manage counterparty and transaction risk, along with market data, analytics, connectivity and other technology solutions for financial institutions and businesses.