CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Given New $180.00 Price Target at Bank of America

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $177.00 to $180.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on CME Group in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $235.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a hold rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $213.77.

CME Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $224.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $80.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.55. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $226.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $211.69 and its 200-day moving average is $207.71.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,932,706.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of CME Group by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,403,557,000 after buying an additional 3,069,806 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 137.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309,097 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $156,631,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in CME Group by 577.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,872,000 after acquiring an additional 550,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 11.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.