Howard J. Siegel Sells 10,000 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $266.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $96.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $244.35 and a 200-day moving average of $233.28. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $266.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.93.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CME. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in CME Group by 106.1% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 3,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in CME Group by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,545,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 2,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

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.