Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. $ICE

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) by 198.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 206,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,074 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $32,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ICE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 413,639 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 17,398.1% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 53,798,055 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,653,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,154,914,000 after acquiring an additional 837,208 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 1.0% in 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Intercontinental Exchange in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,418,228,000. 89.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $208.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $187.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $177.00 target price on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $211.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Intercontinental Exchange presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.33.

Insider Activity at Intercontinental Exchange

In related news, CFO Warren Gardiner sold 2,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was 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 directly owned 25,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,945,604.96. The trade was a 9.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sharon Bowen sold 667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.28, for a total transaction of $100,903.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,280,848.56. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 13,425 shares of company stock worth $2,046,324 in the last quarter. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More Intercontinental Exchange News

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

NYSE ICE opened at $134.91 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $142.48 and its 200 day moving average is $155.55. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.79 and a fifty-two week high of $189.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.12. Intercontinental Exchange had a return on equity of 14.99% and a net margin of 30.06%.The business had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share 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.