Insider Selling: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Insider Sells 11,592 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5 %

CME Group stock opened at $250.11 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $253.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.30, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $235.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.25.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $234.07.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in CME Group by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,309,000 after buying an additional 4,354 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of CME Group by 0.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 71,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,677,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at $662,000. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $469,000. Finally, Inlet Private Wealth LLC increased its position in CME Group by 13.8% in the third quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,234,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.