CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $292.1765.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,539,618,000 after purchasing an additional 130,698 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after buying an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,056,476,000 after buying an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $282.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $274.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group has a 12 month low of $232.32 and a 12 month high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.