CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,480,000 shares, a drop of 7.1% from the January 15th total of 4,820,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $247.86 on Wednesday. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $253.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $236.29 and a 200-day moving average of $226.68.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. On average, analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.