Brokerages Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target at $238.93

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $241.53.

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

CME Group Trading Down 5.2 %

CME Group stock opened at $254.46 on Friday. 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 $91.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.31. CME Group has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $273.42.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

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 value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.