CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Price Down 1.4% – Here’s Why

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) shares fell 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $249.53 and last traded at $251.48. 3,682,292 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 74% from the average session volume of 2,116,068 shares. The stock had previously closed at $255.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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, Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $247.47.

CME Group Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $255.22 and its 200-day moving average is $239.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $871,063,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,261 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.