CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Upgraded to "Overweight" at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan upgraded CME Group to “overweight” from “underweight” and set a $367 price target, implying approximately 24% upside from the cited share price.
• CME’s analyst consensus remains “Hold,” with 10 Buy, six Hold and two Sell ratings and an average price target of $300.25.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.02 in EPS and $1.74 billion in revenue, with revenue up 10.6% year over year.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $367.00 target price on the financial services provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price points to a potential upside of 24.07% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CME. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $292.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on CME Group from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $330.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $300.25.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

CME opened at $295.79 on Thursday. CME Group has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $106.36 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $276.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 293 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $268.76 per share, with a total value of $78,746.68. Following the purchase, the director owned 263,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $70,761,551.64. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.44, for a total value of $4,116,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,630 shares in the company, valued at $11,150,497.20. The trade was a 26.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 8.8% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its stake in CME Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 110,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,981,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $463,000. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,572,000. Finally, Sage Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in CME Group by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,628 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $950,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results exceeded expectations: CME reported $1.74 billion in revenue, up 10.6% year over year and above the $1.71 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted EPS of $3.02 also topped expectations of approximately $2.99, while net income reached $1.04 billion. CME Group 3Q Profit, Revenue Rise on Higher Derivatives Volume
• Positive Sentiment: Record volumes provide a strong earnings catalyst: Average daily volume climbed to a third-quarter record of 29.4 million contracts, including 9 million contracts outside the United States. Clearing and transaction-fee revenue was approximately $1.4 billion, while market-data revenue rose 20% to a record $243 million. CME Group Q3 Earnings Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management indicated continued momentum: CEO Terry Duffy highlighted record participation and suggested CME is positioned for another record year. The company also returned nearly $1 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. CME Group Earnings Call Signals Another Record Year
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion could broaden future growth: CME plans to launch CME Securities Clearing on December 7 and is expanding into additional cryptocurrency and digital-asset products, including UNI futures and planned token-index products. CME outlines launch of CME Securities Clearing
• Neutral Sentiment: Key risks remain: The initial market reaction was cautious because expenses were higher than anticipated. CME also faces regulatory uncertainty involving its bitcoin perpetual-futures litigation and digital-asset rules, though the CFTC has urged dismissal of the lawsuit. CME Group stock reaction to Q3 earnings

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for futures and options contracts. Its products cover major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. The company also provides market data, benchmark information and related services used by financial institutions, corporations, producers, investors and other market participants.

CME Group's exchange portfolio includes CME, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.