Terrence Duffy Sells 35,000 Shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) CEO Terrence Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded up $6.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $305.12. 1,844,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,304,357. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $288.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.17 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

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.