CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) CFO Sells $163,610.46 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $214.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $223.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a PEG ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $207.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.59.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bluefin Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,891,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its stake in CME Group by 81.4% in the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 44,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,588,000 after buying an additional 19,985 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of CME Group by 229.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 292,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,618,000 after acquiring an additional 203,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in shares of CME Group by 66.5% during the first quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 45,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,708,000 after acquiring an additional 18,017 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $212.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.73.

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.