Larry G. Gerdes Sells 2,000 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,207,729.10. This represents a 4.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $272.36 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $273.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average is $259.60 and its 200-day moving average is $242.62. The company has a market capitalization of $98.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during 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 was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the first quarter worth about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 570.6% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.