Piper Sandler Trims CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Target Price to $235.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective reduced by Piper Sandler from $250.00 to $235.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a sell rating and set a $187.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $226.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $215.82.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $193.43 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.48. CME Group has a 12-month low of $180.88 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. CME Group’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,451,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,044,821,000 after purchasing an additional 215,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in CME Group by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,403,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,069,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in CME Group by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,072,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,575 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in CME Group by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,793,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,462,678,000 after acquiring an additional 189,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,667,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,193,551,000 after acquiring an additional 23,583 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.