CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Short Interest Update

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,960,000 shares, a growth of 17.3% from the May 31st total of 5,080,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 966.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $196.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. CME Group has a 1 year low of $180.11 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The firm has a market cap of $70.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $206.00 to $187.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.90.

CME Group Company Profile

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.