CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Erste Group Bank

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CME. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.93.

CME Group Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $266.49 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. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $266.93. The company has a market cap of $96.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $244.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.28.

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

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. 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. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after buying an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,730,000 after buying an additional 52,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $503,000. 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.