Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Price Target to $257.00

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price objective lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $256.00 to $257.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $234.13.

CME Group Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $245.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $253.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. Analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 83.2% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the period. South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $93,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd lifted its position in CME Group by 128.6% during the 4th quarter. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd now owns 6,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 27,000 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 11,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.