The Goldman Sachs Group Increases CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $266.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price upped by research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $264.00 to $266.00 in a report issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “sell” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 13.29% from the company’s previous close.

CME has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.59.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CME stock opened at $306.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $110.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $278.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.40. CME Group has a twelve month low of $239.70 and a twelve month high of $309.35.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% 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 Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caldwell Trust Co grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $28,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buy — Intermede Investment Partners disclosed a new ~$77.8M position in CME on its 13F, signaling fresh institutional demand that could support shares. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion — CME announced it will launch financially settled Single Stock Futures covering 50+ large U.S. names (Alphabet, Meta, NVIDIA, Tesla, etc.), a new product that can attract volume and fees if approved. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Distribution / flow win — FlexTrade integrated CME’s FX Spot+ and EBS Market offerings into its FlexFX platform, expanding distribution of CME liquidity pools and potentially boosting FX-related revenue. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed short-interest readings — recent filings show short interest rose to ~5.21M shares (≈1.4% of shares, ~2.8 days to cover) as of Jan 30, but another report contains conflicting/zero values, making the net short-pressure unclear. (Internal short-interest notices)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares (~$224k) earlier this month; this is one of several recent insider sales and can be perceived as a weak signal by some investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst resistance — Goldman Sachs reiterated a sell rating (raising target slightly to $266), which may cap upside for investors relying on sell-side guidance. Read More.

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.