CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Raised to $275.00 at Citigroup

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) had its target price upped by Citigroup from $265.00 to $275.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $259.87.

CME Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of CME stock traded down $1.00 on Thursday, hitting $274.83. 1,234,017 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,194,406. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $276.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.35. CME Group has a one year low of $193.17 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. CME Group's payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total transaction of $294,552.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $863,651.04. This trade represents a 25.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total value of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This represents a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,680,610 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,190,661,000 after purchasing an additional 400,737 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 9.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after acquiring an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.