CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating restated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $235.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 4.71% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CME. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $213.77.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $224.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $226.78. The stock has a market cap of $80.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $212.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.75.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,403,557,000 after buying an additional 3,069,806 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 137.6% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309,097 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $156,631,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 577.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,872,000 after purchasing an additional 550,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.