CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• CME Group has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 18 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of about $292.12.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed but generally positive, including upgrades from Rothschild & Co Redburn and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, while Barclays and UBS lowered their price targets.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $3.36 EPS on revenue of $1.88 billion, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share for a 2.1% yield.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $292.1176.

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5%

CME opened at $245.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $88.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The business's fifty day moving average is $258.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 12.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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