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

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $219.00. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the stock. CME Group traded as high as $271.22 and last traded at $270.10, with a volume of 1462780 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $262.54.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CME. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.53.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $97.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $251.50 and a 200-day moving average of $236.71.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.