CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Upgraded to “Buy” at TD Cowen

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was upgraded by TD Cowen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $305.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.71% from the stock’s current price.

CME has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.94.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $273.03 on Wednesday. CME Group has a 12 month low of $225.46 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.78. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank increased its position in CME Group by 8.4% during the second quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 1,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Balefire LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 52.6% during the second quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.