Royal Bank of Canada Begins Coverage on CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)

Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $235.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

CME has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler restated an overweight rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday. They issued a hold rating and a $221.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $212.54.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $218.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $78.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $2,877,504.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,932,706.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Gold Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 66.1% during the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in CME Group by 515.2% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.