CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target Raised to $258.00 at Piper Sandler

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price raised by Piper Sandler from $250.00 to $258.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.53.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $227.01 on Tuesday. CME Group has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $81.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $232.32 and a 200 day moving average of $218.15.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 515.2% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in 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.