CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Lowered to "Strong Sell" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group to “strong sell” from “sell,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with 11 buy, four hold and three sell ratings and an average target price of $291.81.
• CME shares opened at $267.79, below their 200-day moving average of $281.05 and well below the 12-month high of $329.16. Several firms recently reduced their price targets, including UBS, Deutsche Bank and Barclays.
• CME’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.99 versus $2.91 estimated and revenue of $1.71 billion versus $1.68 billion expected; revenue increased 0.8% year over year.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

CME has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped 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 note on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $291.81.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $267.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.05. CME Group has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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