Brokerages Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) PT at $289.75

Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $289.75.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $278.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $261.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $277.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $100.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. RFG Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 208.2% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after acquiring an additional 4,617 shares during the period. GFG Capital LLC raised its position in CME Group by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. GFG Capital LLC now owns 8,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the last quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 1,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 100,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 12,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company’s principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.