TD Cowen Reaffirms Buy Rating for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• TD Cowen reaffirmed its Buy rating on CME Group and maintained a $292 price target, implying 3.88% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: nine analysts rate CME a Buy, six Hold, and three Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $289.75.
• CME reported quarterly EPS of $2.99, beating estimates of $2.91, while revenue reached $1.71 billion and increased 0.8% year over year.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by TD Cowen in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $292.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock. TD Cowen's target price indicates a potential upside of 3.88% from the stock's previous close.

CME has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $289.75.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $3.31 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $281.08. 318,446 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,629,520. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $256.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.50. CME Group has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 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 .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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.

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