Rothschild & Co Redburn Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn from $300.00 to $333.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn’s price objective points to a potential upside of 10.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.53.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $301.64 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $279.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.80. CME Group has a 52-week low of $244.43 and a 52-week high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,656,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after buying an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently 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.