Insider Selling: CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Director Sells $1,300,530.00 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Bryan Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $5.91 during trading on Monday, reaching $314.00. 3,117,690 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,236,583. The stock has a market cap of $113.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $247.08 and a 12-month high of $314.19.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.53.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Caldwell Trust Co grew its position in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.