CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $228.00 to $245.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. CME Group traded as high as $226.96 and last traded at $226.96, with a volume of 436 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $224.20.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CME. Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in CME Group by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 4.3% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich boosted its holdings in CME Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 7,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $81.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 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 firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.