Morgan Stanley Lowers CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $353.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $362.00 to $353.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.85% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on CME Group from $328.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.71.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $285.02 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $304.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.07. CME Group has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in CME Group by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 2,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at $1,014,000. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in CME Group by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 9,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,700,000 after buying an additional 2,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vertrix Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at $974,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q1 revenue and volumes: CME reported record Q1 revenue and a surge in trading volumes, driven by higher hedging and risk-management activity — a core driver of futures and options trading revenue. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings-call commentary backs the volume story: Management emphasized broad-based demand and rising market risk that is increasing hedging flows — a positive outlook for transaction-driven revenue. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Full earnings transcript available for deeper color: Investors can review management’s detail on volume drivers and segment performance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts trimmed price targets but kept constructive ratings: Deutsche Bank cut its PT to $322 (keeps buy) and TD Cowen cut to $323 (keeps buy); Morgan Stanley trimmed to $353 but retained overweight — these lower targets reflect model updates despite continued positive ratings. Article Title Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: No meaningful short-interest signal: the short-interest data published for April is effectively zero/unchanged and does not explain the move. (No linked article.)
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman maintains a sell rating and lowered its PT to $267 — the most bearish big-bank view in the group and a direct negative for sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed market reaction and some headline takes that Q1 sales missed analyst expectations or that the stock looks expensive post-earnings — these narratives can pressure short-term price action despite strong volume trends. Article Title Article Title

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.