CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• CME Group has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 18 covering firms, with an average 1-year price target of about $305.29.
• The company recently posted strong quarterly results, including EPS of $3.36 versus estimates of $3.11 and revenue of $1.88 billion versus expectations of $1.77 billion.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Terrence A. Duffy and insider Hilda Harris Piell, while institutional ownership remains very high at 87.75%.

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $305.2941.

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $277.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $100.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $293.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

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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