Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Sector Perform” Rating for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $269.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 5.71% from the stock’s previous close.

CME has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $241.53.

CME Group Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of CME opened at $254.46 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $252.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $237.18. CME Group has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $273.42. The firm has a market cap of $91.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. Analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in CME Group by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 27,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Prostatis Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $341,000. CWC Advisors LLC. increased its stake in CME Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 2,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 64,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,968,000 after buying an additional 2,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 11,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.