Sunil Cutinho Sells 11,896 Shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $271.61 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.71 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $97.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $275.93 and a 200 day moving average of $268.87.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $584,975,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,685 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $704,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 32,941.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,842,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.93.

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.