Bryan Durkin Sells 4,200 Shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Bryan Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $5.91 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $314.00. 3,117,690 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,236,583. The company has a market cap of $113.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $247.08 and a one year high of $314.19.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.53.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,683,000. Cambient Family Office LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $235,000. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. TMB Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,230,000. Finally, Evansbrook LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $640,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.