UBS Group Cuts CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $260.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target cut by stock analysts at UBS Group from $310.00 to $260.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.89% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.00.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $236.60 on Monday. CME Group has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $267.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $284.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.25.

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

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 746.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after buying an additional 1,807,491 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of CME Group by 39.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,019,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,187,290,000 after buying an additional 1,130,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $217,656,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.