CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.04 during trading on Thursday, hitting $213.63. The stock had a trading volume of 315,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,771,397. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $214.73 and its 200 day moving average is $211.93. The company has a market capitalization of $76.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.10.

CME Group Company Profile

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 and foreign currency trading services.