CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Insider Hilda Harris Piell Sells 3,984 Shares

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Up 1.6 %

CME Group stock opened at $253.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $91.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $238.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.07. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $254.40.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake 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 worth $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.