First Manhattan CO. LLC. Decreases Stock Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lessened its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,124,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,980 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $182,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Intercontinental Exchange in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brooklands Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

ICE stock opened at $134.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $76.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12-month low of $133.73 and a 12-month high of $189.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.94.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ICE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Intercontinental Exchange from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $183.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $201.00 target price (up from $198.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,891,887.88. This represents a 9.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Mayur Kapani sold 4,271 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.42, for a total value of $663,798.82. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 64,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,081,939.98. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,425 shares of company stock worth $2,046,324. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Intercontinental Exchange 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.