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

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its target price upped by Piper Sandler from $275.00 to $283.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $246.80.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $258.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $254.84 and its 200 day moving average is $238.79. The company has a market capitalization of $93.11 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $273.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $871,063,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 32,941.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,144,000 after buying an additional 1,853,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.