Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $256.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price cut by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $260.00 to $256.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.47% from the company’s current price.

CME has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

CME opened at $231.73 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $232.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.36. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. The trade was a 8.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,144,000. Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,104,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.