CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sector perform" rating restated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $235.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.22% from the stock's current price.
Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $222.07.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on CME Group
Shares of CME traded up $2.75 on Thursday, hitting $229.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 272,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,930,316. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a P/E/G ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.55. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $218.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.66. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $230.30.
CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm 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 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company's revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.04 EPS for the current year.
In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in CME Group by 24.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,403,557,000 after buying an additional 3,069,806 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in CME Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 4,009,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $863,112,000 after purchasing an additional 43,293 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in CME Group by 3.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,029,145 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $595,530,000 after acquiring an additional 94,302 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $557,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,004 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
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.
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