CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Sells $1,629,381.87 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $219.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $78.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 0.52. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $203.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America cut CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.73.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,451,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,044,821,000 after purchasing an additional 215,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 24.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,403,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,069,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,072,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,575 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in CME Group by 2.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,793,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,462,678,000 after buying an additional 189,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,667,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,193,551,000 after buying an additional 23,583 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.