Insider Selling: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Insider Sells $1,501,899.00 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 7,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.35, for a total value of $1,501,899.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,153,999.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $213.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $175.73 and a one year high of $223.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $213.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,451,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,044,821,000 after buying an additional 215,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,072,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,575 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 12,739,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,683,012,000 after buying an additional 50,626 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,793,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,462,678,000 after purchasing an additional 189,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,667,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,193,551,000 after acquiring an additional 23,583 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Argus upped their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

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.