FY2024 EPS Estimates for CME Group Cut by Zacks Research

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research cut their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for CME Group in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 7th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $10.18 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $10.21. The consensus estimate for CME Group’s current full-year earnings is $10.22 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for CME Group’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.44 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.56 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.45 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.50 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.52 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $10.03 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $2.58 EPS.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.53.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $229.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.30. The company has a market capitalization of $82.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CME. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 58.4% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,441,000 after purchasing an additional 226,306 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 149.4% in the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,671,000 after acquiring an additional 14,234 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $403,017,000 after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,432,000 after acquiring an additional 303,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,298. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.