CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) COO Suzanne Sprague Sells 1,500 Shares

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $254.48 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $239.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.06. The firm has a market cap of $91.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $258.78.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.