Julie Winkler Sells 11,592 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $245.48 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $235.95 and its 200-day moving average is $225.57. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $253.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.13.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after buying an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.