CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $219.00. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the stock. CME Group traded as high as $271.22 and last traded at $270.10, with a volume of 1462780 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $262.54.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % 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, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Trading Down 5.2 %

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 company has a fifty day moving average of $252.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $237.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

About CME Group

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.