CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) to Repurchase $3.00 billion in Outstanding Stock

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $246.02. The company had a trading volume of 3,252,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,953,987. CME Group has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $249.02. The stock has a market cap of $88.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.87, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.77.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen began coverage on CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $224.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.