CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Raised to $262.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $256.00 to $262.00 in a research note released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CME. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.18.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5%

CME stock opened at $282.73 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $101.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $274.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.95. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $232.32 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $406,029,000 after buying an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $164,648,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

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.