CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Raised to $279.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target increased by Oppenheimer from $269.00 to $279.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $247.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $261.54 on Friday. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $273.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after buying an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.