CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $219.00. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the stock. CME Group traded as high as $271.22 and last traded at $270.10, with a volume of 1462780 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $262.54.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on CME. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised shares of 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. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.53.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in CME Group by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,709,000 after buying an additional 2,370 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $335,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 48.6% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 11,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,631,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in CME Group by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 492,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,633,000 after purchasing an additional 34,475 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $96.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.93.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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

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.