Insider Buying: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Buys $13,677.60 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director William R. Shepard purchased 60 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.96 per share, with a total value of $13,677.60. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,432 shares in the company, valued at $554,398.72. This represents a 2.53 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $232.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $233.29 and its 200 day moving average is $219.93. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The firm has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CME. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $313,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 2.1% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,168,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 23.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $210,328,000 after acquiring an additional 203,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of CME Group by 16.0% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on CME shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

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.