CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• CME Group Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from 16 analysts, with 3 sell ratings, 9 holds, and 4 buy recommendations.
• The company recently reported earnings of $2.96 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue of $1.69 billion, reflecting a 10.4% year-over-year increase.
• CME Group announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, yielding 1.8%, with an expected payout ratio of 48.40%.

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $261.9333.

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in CME Group by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,190,000 after buying an additional 19,533 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in CME Group by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 246,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $57,270,000 after buying an additional 17,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in CME Group by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $915,788,000 after buying an additional 403,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $271.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1 year low of $207.71 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The firm has a market cap of $97.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.87.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.

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