CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. CME Group’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME traded up $0.42 on Thursday, reaching $213.01. The stock had a trading volume of 441,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,772,359. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.68 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.73 and a 200 day moving average of $211.93. CME Group has a twelve month low of $175.73 and a twelve month high of $223.80.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $187.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.10.

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.