Boston Partners Buys 1,914,851 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Boston Partners grew its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 148.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,203,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,914,851 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $519,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Milford Funds Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter valued at $25,116,000. L1 Capital Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter valued at $110,004,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,722,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $764,824,000 after acquiring an additional 217,291 shares during the period. L1 Capital International Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 369.5% during the fourth quarter. L1 Capital International Pty Ltd now owns 657,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,453,000 after acquiring an additional 517,278 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 274,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,505,000 after acquiring an additional 55,400 shares during the period. 89.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ICE. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $201.00 price objective (up from $198.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.00.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

Shares of ICE opened at $140.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.92. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.67 and a 12 month high of $189.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.06% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of Intercontinental Exchange 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,945,604.96. The trade was a 9.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 45,473 shares in the company, valued at $6,891,887.88. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,092 shares of company stock worth $1,860,424. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.