FY2024 EPS Estimates for CME Group Reduced by Zacks Research

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) - Stock analysts at Zacks Research cut their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of CME Group in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, January 7th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now expects that the financial services provider will earn $10.18 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $10.21. The consensus estimate for CME Group's current full-year earnings is $10.22 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for CME Group's Q4 2024 earnings at $2.44 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.56 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.45 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.50 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.52 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $10.03 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $2.58 EPS.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share.

CME has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 report on Monday, November 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.53.

CME Group Trading Down 0.0 %

CME traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $229.20. 2,739,420 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,167,453. The firm has a market cap of $82.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $232.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.30.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued 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 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,131,291.92. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 11.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $557,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $554,707,000 after buying an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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.