CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives $238.93 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $241.53.

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday.

CME Group Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $254.46 on Friday. CME Group has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $273.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $252.60 and a 200 day moving average of $237.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $91.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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