Short Interest in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Increases By 24.4%

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,158,003 shares, an increase of 24.4% from the November 30th total of 4,948,926 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,907,748 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Based on an average trading volume of 1,907,748 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Amundi lifted its holdings in CME Group by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Victory Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 310.2% during the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Investors Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Spolka Akcyjna bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,389,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in CME Group by 10.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 64,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in CME Group by 10.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,312,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $637,300,000 after acquiring an additional 225,449 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $290.82.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded down $2.00 on Wednesday, reaching $273.83. 248,163 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,158,200. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.28. CME Group has a 52 week low of $224.62 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

About CME Group

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.