Analysts Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) PT at $302.24

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $302.2353.

CME has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th.

CME Group Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $221.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.74. CME Group has a 52-week low of $220.73 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1248 Management LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CME Group

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.