Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays cut its price target on CME Group from $316 to $270 while keeping an “equal weight” rating, implying about 13.1% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed overall, but still leans positive: CME has a Moderate Buy consensus with 12 Buy ratings, 4 Hold ratings, and 2 Sell ratings, and a consensus target of $295.29.
• CME recently beat earnings and revenue expectations, posting $3.36 EPS on $1.88 billion in revenue, though the stock was down 1.8% and opened at $238.73; insiders also showed mixed activity with CEO Terrence A. Duffy selling shares and Director William R. Shepard buying shares.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Barclays from $316.00 to $270.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Barclays's target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.10% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on CME. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $295.29.

CME Group Stock Down 1.8%

CME stock opened at $238.73 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $283.70. The company has a market capitalization of $86.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $1,006,932,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 746.4% in the fourth 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. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 39.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,019,944 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,187,290,000 after buying an additional 1,130,587 shares during the period. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $217,656,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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