Morgan Stanley Increases CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $233.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $233.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on CME. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.07.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $228.32 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $82.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 7.76 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $216.92 and its 200 day moving average is $208.32. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $230.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other 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 value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CME. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.8% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $782,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich increased its holdings in CME Group by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 7,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Essex LLC now owns 1,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 52 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.