Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Barclays from $263.00 to $279.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.51% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $242.60.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1 %

CME Group stock traded up $0.31 on Monday, hitting $254.77. 2,115,547 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,083,817. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $273.42. The firm has a market cap of $91.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $252.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.46.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % 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. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its holdings in CME Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 27,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Prostatis Group LLC purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $341,000. CWC Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 2,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 64,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 11,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.