CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Downgraded to Strong Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $267.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.25. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $250.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.05. CME Group has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in CME Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,179,858,000 after buying an additional 222,890 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.