CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• CME Group has an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 18 analysts, with 12 buy ratings, 4 holds, and 2 sells. The average 1-year price target is about $302.24.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, posting EPS of $3.36 versus estimates of $3.11 and revenue of $1.88 billion versus $1.77 billion expected. Revenue rose 14.5% year over year, and CME also maintained a high net margin of 63.19%.
• Several insiders recently sold shares, including CEO Terrence A. Duffy and insider Hilda Harris Piell. At the same time, institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of the stock, owning 87.75% of shares.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $302.2353.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, 1248 Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ CME opened at $245.20 on Tuesday. CME Group has a 12 month low of $244.56 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $278.53 and a 200-day moving average of $287.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.21.

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. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 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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