CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $256.00 to $257.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.69% from the stock’s previous close.

CME has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.13.

CME Group Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $245.48 on Friday. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $253.53. 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 company has a market capitalization of $88.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $235.95 and a 200 day moving average of $225.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. Research analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after buying an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.