CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Given New $270.00 Price Target at Barclays

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Barclays from $316.00 to $270.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 13.10% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CME. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.29.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $238.73 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $86.51 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $264.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $283.70. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in CME Group by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 1,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 38.3% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 1,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 165.4% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of CME Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 103,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,776,000 after purchasing an additional 4,933 shares during the period. Finally, PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.7% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 68,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.