CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $292.1176.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CME. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $2,122,000. First Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,325,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 140,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $245.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $258.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $282.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $88.80 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.37%.

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.