UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) had its target price increased by UBS Group from $290.00 to $305.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider's stock.

CME has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James raised CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $3.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $275.66. The stock had a trading volume of 708,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,152,296. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $276.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business's fifty day moving average is $259.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.62. The company has a market cap of $99.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,076 shares of company stock worth $7,399,696. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 364,899 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,804,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $2,331,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in CME Group by 219.7% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 17,142 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,548,000 after purchasing an additional 11,780 shares during the period. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $306,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CME Group

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.