CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) - Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of CME Group in a report issued on Monday, April 27th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $12.21 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $11.94. Erste Group Bank currently has a "Strong-Buy" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for CME Group's current full-year earnings is $12.23 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for CME Group's FY2027 earnings at $12.92 EPS.
CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS.
A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $305.29.
Read Our Latest Research Report on CME Group
CME Group Stock Up 0.9%
Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $284.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business's 50-day moving average is $303.71 and its 200-day moving average is $286.56. CME Group has a 1 year low of $257.17 and a 1 year high of $329.16.
CME Group Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.
Insider Transactions at CME Group
In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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 company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 746.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $559,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,656,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About CME Group
(
Get Free Report)
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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