Wall Street Zen Upgrades CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to “Hold”

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $309.94.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $287.65 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $306.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $285.62. CME Group has a one year low of $251.90 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $103.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.