Wall Street Zen Downgrades CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to Strong Sell

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CME. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $267.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $250.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.17. CME Group has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.