CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $229.27.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,371,000 after buying an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $232.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $233.29 and its 200-day moving average is $220.09. CME Group has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.