CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Rating Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $337.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $281.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $315.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $295.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.44.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $303.14 on Friday. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.01. The stock has a market cap of $108.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 12.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.66%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 5,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.70, for a total value of $1,493,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,037 shares in the company, valued at $5,985,051.90. This trade represents a 19.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin Gepsman sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.50, for a total transaction of $121,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,636,310. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,900 shares of company stock worth $5,871,155 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,749,965,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in CME Group by 39.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,019,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,187,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,587 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $769,376,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $629,771,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for futures and options contracts. Its products cover major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. The company also provides market data, benchmark information and related services used by financial institutions, corporations, producers, investors and other market participants.

CME Group’s exchange portfolio includes CME, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX.