CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $303.5294.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 5,248 shares of company stock worth $1,616,700 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $311.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. CME Group has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $112.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $295.80 and its 200-day moving average is $278.99.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

More CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target on CME to $347 (maintaining a “neutral” rating), implying roughly double-digit upside from recent levels and offering fresh analyst support for the shares. Rothschild Co Redburn adjusts price target on CME to 347 from 333, maintains neutral rating
• Neutral Sentiment: CME’s CEO Terry Duffy publicly warned that U.S. government intervention in oil futures markets would be highly damaging; exchanges including CME have voiced opposition to potential Treasury action. This raises policy/regulatory risk for energy derivatives but also underscores the exchange’s central role in market integrity — a factor that can support trading volumes in energy products if volatility rises. US intervention in oil futures would be ‘biblical disaster’, CME warns CME Group CEO warns against US intervention in oil futures markets US intervention in oil futures market could be disastrous: CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting in recent feeds shows zero or nonsensical values and appears to be a data anomaly rather than a real bearish signal; treat those short-interest items with caution. (Market impact minimal until corrected.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Ken Vroman (Chief Transformation Officer) sold about 5,160 shares (~$1.59M) and SEC filings show multiple recent insider sales across senior staff. While insider sales can be routine, the cadence and size may raise governance/owner-sentiment questions for some investors. CME Group’s Vroman sells $1.59 million in stock Insider Sale: Chief Transformation Officer of $CME Sells 5,160 Shares

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.