TD Cowen Lowers CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $273.00

Key Points

• TD Cowen cut its price target on CME Group from $323 to $273, while keeping a buy rating on the stock. The new target still implies about 10.9% upside from the current share price.
• CME Group shares were trading around $246.19 on Monday, near their 52-week low of $244.56 and well below the analyst consensus price target of $302.24. The stock has a market cap of about $89.2 billion.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.36 EPS on $1.88 billion in revenue, both above estimates. Insider selling also stood out, including notable share sales by CEO Terrence A. Duffy and insider Hilda Harris Piell.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at TD Cowen from $323.00 to $273.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the financial services provider's stock. TD Cowen's price target points to a potential upside of 10.89% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $302.24.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $246.19. The stock had a trading volume of 258,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,597,018. CME Group has a twelve month low of $244.56 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $89.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.21. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $279.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Militia Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter worth about $2,558,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 16,578 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,896,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 67,317 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $19,882,000 after acquiring an additional 7,672 shares during the period. First Nebraska Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $577,000. Finally, Keel Point LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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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