JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Price

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $256.00 to $262.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 6.89% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $320.00 to $319.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $292.18.

CME Group Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $281.39 on Thursday. CME Group has a 52-week low of $230.96 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.97. The firm has a market cap of $101.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jessup Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in CME Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 7,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,197,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in CME Group by 2.7% in the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.