CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Upgraded at Erste Group Bank

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was upgraded by Erste Group Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $266.49 on Monday. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $266.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.03 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $244.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.28.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWC Advisors LLC. raised its position in CME Group by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 2,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in CME Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 64,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its position in CME Group by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 11,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,772,000. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in CME Group by 50.4% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 17,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,026,000 after purchasing an additional 5,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.