CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Buy by TD Cowen

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by TD Cowen in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $292.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.42% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.07.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock traded down $0.03 on Monday, hitting $264.45. The company had a trading volume of 469,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,555,523. CME Group has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $269.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.89. The stock has a market cap of $95.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Elizabeth Cook sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.11, for a total value of $140,055.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,916 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,450.76. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence Duffy sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.44, for a total value of $4,116,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,150,497.20. This trade represents a 26.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Bayban purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $28,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company’s principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.