CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME – Get Rating) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $254.75.

Several brokerages have weighed in on CME. Compass Point upped their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 10th. Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $244.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on CME Group from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $269.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on CME Group in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Shares of CME stock opened at $200.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $185.79 and a fifty-two week high of $256.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $230.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $229.59. The firm has a market cap of $71.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.47.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.11. CME Group had a return on equity of 9.29% and a net margin of 57.98%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group will post 7.9 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 9th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.22%.

In other CME Group news, Director Daniel R. Glickman sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.30, for a total value of $175,725.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.96, for a total value of $1,166,004.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,150 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,944. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Fund Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 147.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 148,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,665,000 after buying an additional 88,229 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 105.9% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 123,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,908,000 after buying an additional 63,600 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,176,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $227,498,000 after buying an additional 80,300 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 88,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,260,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,173,000. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group (Get Rating)

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 products.

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