Insider Selling: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $4.90 on Monday, hitting $263.58. 2,435,702 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,893,058. The company’s fifty day moving average is $242.80 and its 200 day moving average is $232.58. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $264.40. The company has a market capitalization of $94.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 570.6% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 188.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.93.

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.