Insider Selling: Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) Director Sells $215,954.40 in Stock

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) Director Martha Tirinnanzi sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.16, for a total transaction of $215,954.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $603,866.52. This trade represents a 26.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Intercontinental Exchange Price Performance

NYSE ICE traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $162.46. 3,000,844 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,957,768. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.79 and a 52-week high of $177.76. The company has a market capitalization of $91.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $144.32 and its 200-day moving average is $151.43.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.06. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The company had revenue of $3.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.81 EPS. Intercontinental Exchange’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intercontinental Exchange

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 11,968.7% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 108,380,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,342,784,000 after purchasing an additional 107,482,962 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in 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 valued at $8,763,214,000 after purchasing an additional 53,798,055 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth $6,245,085,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Intercontinental Exchange during the fourth quarter worth $1,418,228,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange during the second quarter worth $714,869,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ICE. Weiss Ratings upgraded Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial set a $208.00 target price on Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $208.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.33.

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.