Insider Selling: CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Director Sells $140,055.00 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Elizabeth Cook sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.11, for a total value of $140,055.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,916 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,450.76. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $4.92 during trading on Monday, reaching $280.46. 1,733,746 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,793,321. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $264.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.89.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its position in CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $292.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.75.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company’s principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.