CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Lowered to $343.00 at Barclays

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $344.00 to $343.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $308.71.

CME Group Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of CME stock opened at $300.59 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $306.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $251.90 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $636,487,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 746.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,720,000 after buying an additional 1,807,491 shares during the period. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $217,656,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

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.