Piper Sandler Cuts CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $235.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $250.00 to $235.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a market perform rating and issued a $226.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a sell rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $215.82.

CME Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $195.80 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. CME Group has a 1 year low of $180.11 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total transaction of $211,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,241 shares in the company, valued at $3,858,336.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total transaction of $211,520.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,858,336.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Gold Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 966.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.