CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Acquires $13,677.60 in Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director William R. Shepard purchased 60 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $227.96 per share, for a total transaction of $13,677.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $554,398.72. The trade was a 2.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $2.80 on Friday, hitting $235.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 638,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,904,092. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. The company has a market capitalization of $84.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $219.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $5.80 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 188.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 62.2% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 52.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

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.