Insider Selling: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Insider Sells 4,650 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $282.11 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $286.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $263.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.14. The company has a market capitalization of $101.66 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,570,000 after acquiring an additional 17,508 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

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.