Charles P. Carey Sells 3,000 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total transaction of $817,680.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,471,824. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $277.87 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $286.48. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $100.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $266.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $247.92.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $301,000. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

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.