CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $258.20.

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CME opened at $270.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,300,215. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $863,651.04. The trade was a 25.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,190,661,000 after buying an additional 400,737 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,107,389,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.