CME Group’s (CME) Sector Perform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $235.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CME. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $237.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.53.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $229.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $232.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $218.22. CME Group has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $82.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CME. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 1,664.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 11,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 10,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.