CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Given New $319.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $320.00 to $319.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 16.47% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $307.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.88.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:CME traded down $1.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $273.89. 381,415 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,010,076. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $274.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group has a 1 year low of $227.89 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 84.3% during the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.