Analysts Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) PT at $305.29

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $305.2941.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $256.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $289.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $288.82. CME Group has a 1 year low of $244.56 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $92.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.