CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Reaches New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $323.00 to $273.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. CME Group traded as low as $244.56 and last traded at $244.3330, with a volume of 1134611 shares. The stock had previously closed at $245.20.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CME. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,122,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,325,000. Finally, London & Capital Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 41.6% during the third quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 191,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,731,000 after purchasing an additional 56,259 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Down 0.3%

The stock has a market cap of $88.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $278.53 and a 200 day moving average of $287.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.