CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock: Insider William Shepard Acquires 293 Shares

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director William Shepard purchased 293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $268.76 per share, with a total value of $78,746.68. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 263,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,761,551.64. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

CME Group Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:CME traded down $1.24 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $263.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,317,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,560,262. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $94.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.53 and a 200 day moving average of $273.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.07.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $28,000. Bayban purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.