CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a mixed outlook on CME Group: Among 17 analysts, eight rate the stock a buy, six a hold and three a sell, resulting in an average “Hold” recommendation and a $289.07 12-month price target.
• CME exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in earnings per share and $1.71 billion in revenue, ahead of consensus estimates. Analysts expect full-year earnings of approximately $12.27 per share.
• The company maintains shareholder-return appeal with a $1.30 quarterly dividend, equal to a 2.0% yield, while institutional investors own 87.75% of outstanding shares.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $289.07.

CME has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $292.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5%

CME opened at $261.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $94.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company's 50-day moving average price is $270.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.96.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William Shepard acquired 293 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $268.76 per share, with a total value of $78,746.68. Following the acquisition, the director owned 263,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,761,551.64. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence Duffy sold 15,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.44, for a total transaction of $4,116,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,150,497.20. This represents a 26.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,749,965,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $769,376,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $629,771,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $622,679,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that enable customers to manage risk and trade futures and options contracts. Its exchanges offer products linked to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy, metals and other asset classes.

The company also provides central counterparty clearing, settlement and related risk-management services for transactions conducted on its markets. In addition, CME Group offers market data, benchmark products and technology services that support trading, analysis and connectivity for financial institutions, businesses, professional traders and other market participants.

CME Group's history includes the Chicago Board of Trade, founded in 1848, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, established in 1898.

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