Analysts Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Target Price at $286.06

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $286.0588.

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus cut their price objective on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $266.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in CME Group by 17.8% during the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,416,000 after buying an additional 2,510 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. raised its position in CME Group by 34.1% in the first quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 58,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,570,000 after acquiring an additional 14,910 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in CME Group by 20.1% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of CME Group by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 64,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of CME Group by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,744,000 after acquiring an additional 648,591 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.3%

CME opened at $279.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $100.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $266.55 and its 200-day moving average is $272.65. CME Group has a 1-year low of $222.56 and a 1-year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

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.