Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 198.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 206,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 137,074 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $32,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 413,639 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 54,107,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,154,914,000 after purchasing an additional 837,208 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,875,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,571,212,000 after buying an additional 158,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Intercontinental Exchange during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,418,228,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intercontinental Exchange

In other news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.64, for a total value of $390,033.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,945,604.96. This represents a 9.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Andrew J. Surdykowski sold 4,573 shares of the firm’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 value 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. This 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 13,425 shares of company stock valued at $2,046,324. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ICE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $187.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $193.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $201.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intercontinental Exchange has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.33.

Intercontinental Exchange News Summary

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.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

Intercontinental Exchange stock opened at $134.91 on Monday. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.79 and a 12-month high of $189.35. 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 50-day moving average price of $142.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.94.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.12. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.06% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current 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.