Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of CME Group Put Options (NASDAQ:CME)

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 3,030 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 54% compared to the average volume of 1,967 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Gold Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 515.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $217.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $205.28 and its 200 day moving average is $207.69. The company has a market cap of $78.24 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72, a P/E/G ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.33%.

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.