CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $215.70.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus upped their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $959,260,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $253,563,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,072,654,000 after buying an additional 1,172,575 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,615,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $761,371,000 after buying an additional 1,048,511 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6 %

CME Group stock opened at $209.65 on Friday. CME Group has a twelve month low of $175.73 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.86%.

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.