CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) – Investment analysts at Piper Sandler upped their Q1 2021 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for CME Group in a research note issued to investors on Monday, April 5th. Piper Sandler analyst R. Repetto now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $1.75 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.70. Piper Sandler also issued estimates for CME Group’s Q3 2021 earnings at $1.71 EPS, Q4 2021 earnings at $1.69 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $6.84 EPS.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 43.68% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share.

CME has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised CME Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $203.00 in a report on Thursday, January 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 10th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $205.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $181.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Monday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.38.

Shares of CME stock opened at $204.34 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.89. CME Group has a 52 week low of $146.89 and a 52 week high of $216.75. The stock has a market cap of $73.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in CME Group by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,635,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,025,955,000 after acquiring an additional 764,909 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments CA raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments CA now owns 4,704,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $856,438,000 after purchasing an additional 61,595 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,005,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $729,179,000 after purchasing an additional 202,059 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,623,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $659,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $633,046,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $319,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,817,952. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kevin Kometer sold 8,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.75, for a total transaction of $1,566,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 76,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,011,676. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,000 shares of company stock worth $4,528,390. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 9th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.94%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income products through its electronic trading platforms, open outcry, and privately negotiated transactions.

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Earnings History and Estimates for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)

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