CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Lowered to $225.00 at Piper Sandler

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price lowered by Piper Sandler from $235.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a sell rating and set a $187.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CME Group from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and cut their price target for the company from $206.00 to $187.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. 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. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $212.64.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %

CME stock opened at $200.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. CME Group has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $223.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.00. The company has a market capitalization of $72.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 9.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Daniel R. Glickman sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.44, for a total value of $130,936.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,821,771.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,290 shares of company stock worth $11,393,700 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 215,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in CME Group by 24.1% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of CME Group by 8.7% during the fourth 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 lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,793,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,462,678,000 after purchasing an additional 189,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23,583 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CME Group

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.