Brokerages Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) PT at $224.47

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $224.47.

A number of analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 137.6% in the second 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in CME Group by 577.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,872,000 after purchasing an additional 550,133 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 21,465.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,070,000 after buying an additional 483,618 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3 %

CME Group stock opened at $237.33 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $238.12. The company has a market capitalization of $85.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $224.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.56.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.37%.

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.