LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Buys 36,105 Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 97.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 73,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 36,105 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $11,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ICE. ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 2.2% during the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its position in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 6,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 89.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Intercontinental Exchange

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.

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 25,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,945,604.96. This represents a 9.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sharon Bowen sold 667 shares of Intercontinental Exchange stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total value of $100,903.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,077 shares in the company, valued at $2,280,848.56. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 13,425 shares of company stock valued at $2,046,324 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

NYSE ICE traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $134.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,013,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,842,965. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.79 and a 1 year high of $189.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $76.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $142.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.59.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.06% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The company’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ICE shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Intercontinental Exchange from $201.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $211.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.33.

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.