Erste Group Bank Upgrades CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to “Strong-Buy”

Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CME. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $265.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.51. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $267.91. The company has a market capitalization of $95.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,545,000 after buying an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $5,569,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 17.3% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 152,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,713,000 after purchasing an additional 22,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.