FY2025 EPS Estimates for CME Group Lifted by Zacks Research

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research increased their FY2025 earnings estimates for shares of CME Group in a research note issued on Thursday, April 10th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now anticipates that the financial services provider will earn $10.50 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $10.40. The consensus estimate for CME Group’s current full-year earnings is $10.49 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for CME Group’s FY2026 earnings at $10.98 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $11.67 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CME. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $247.47.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $261.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $273.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 570.6% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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.