CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Given Buy (B) Rating at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• CME Group's stock has been restated with a "buy (B)" rating by Weiss Ratings, further supported by various analysts boosting their price targets for the stock.
• Shares of CME Group traded up to $264.94 with a 12-month low of $213.94 and a high of $290.79; the company has a market capitalization of $95.48 billion.
• The company reported earnings of $2.96 per share for the most recent quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue up 10.4% year-over-year.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b)" rating restated by equities research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $275.17.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $1.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $264.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,347,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,848,759. CME Group has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $269.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for 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%.The company's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,289,910,000 after acquiring an additional 92,925 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,091,401,000 after acquiring an additional 363,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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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