CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $254.40 and last traded at $252.69, with a volume of 110980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

CME Group Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $91.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $238.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.59.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other 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 transaction of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 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.