CME Group (CME) to Release Earnings on Wednesday

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) is projected to release its earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, April 23rd. Analysts expect CME Group to post earnings of $2.61 per share and revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter. Parties interested in participating in the company's conference call can do so using this link.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, analysts expect CME Group to post $10 EPS for the current fiscal year and $11 EPS for the next fiscal year.

CME Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $1.14 on Friday, hitting $262.53. 1,794,607 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,144,707. The company has a market capitalization of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $257.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $240.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $273.42.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CME. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of CME Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $301.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $247.47.

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.