CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Charles P. Carey Sells 500 Shares

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. This trade represents a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $266.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,046,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,190,130. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $271.76 and a 200 day moving average of $253.64. 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 stock has a market cap of $96.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after acquiring an additional 400,737 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th 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 grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 9.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lifted 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, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.20.

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.