CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $305.2941.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,791 shares of company stock worth $2,489,421. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 177,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,295,000 after buying an additional 7,786 shares in the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $183,000. Glenview Trust Co raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 1,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $344,000. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $107,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $281.25 on Monday. CME Group has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $101.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio 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.