CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Given New $311.00 Price Target at Raymond James Financial

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price increased by Raymond James Financial from $307.00 to $311.00 in a report published on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.06.

CME Group Trading Up 1.4%

CME opened at $273.44 on Monday. CME Group has a 1-year low of $224.62 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $272.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,539,618,000 after purchasing an additional 130,698 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after buying an additional 319,899 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after buying an additional 238,522 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.