JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) had its price target raised by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $256.00 to $262.00 in a report issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential downside of 6.89% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.18.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $281.39 on Thursday. CME Group has a 52 week low of $230.96 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $101.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $274.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.97.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.