William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $714,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,153,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,770,647,000 after buying an additional 413,639 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 54,107,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,763,214,000 after buying an additional 53,798,055 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the second quarter worth $6,245,085,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,154,914,000 after acquiring an additional 837,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,571,212,000 after acquiring an additional 158,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $187.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial set a $208.00 price objective on Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 price target (up from $159.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.33.

Insider Transactions at Intercontinental Exchange

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of the business’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 $6,891,887.88. The trade was a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William Jefferson Hague sold 1,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.46, for a total value of $185,900.18. Following the sale, the director owned 20,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,807,608.72. This trade represents a 6.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,200 shares of company stock worth $3,035,385 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of ICE opened at $161.29 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day moving average is $142.34 and its 200 day moving average is $151.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.79 and a fifty-two week high of $181.65.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.06. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The business had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. Intercontinental Exchange’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.