Insider Selling: CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Sells 400 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $223.08. The stock had a trading volume of 1,193,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,914,119. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.58. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $230.36. The stock has a market cap of $80.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 328.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 10,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 8,040 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 204,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,065,000 after buying an additional 58,037 shares during the last quarter. YCG LLC raised its position in CME Group by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. YCG LLC now owns 128,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,365,000 after buying an additional 7,209 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its position in CME Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,212,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in CME Group by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $222.73.

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.