Erste Group Bank Upgrades CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to “Strong-Buy”

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.71.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of CME opened at $317.10 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. CME Group has a 1 year low of $248.53 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Amundi raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after purchasing an additional 385,225 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,106,000 after buying an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after buying an additional 13,512 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 85.2% in the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 310.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by 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.