CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Director Purchases 325 Shares

Key Points

• CME Group director William Shepard bought 325 shares at an average price of $230.57, worth about $74,935, increasing his holdings to 260,442 shares.
• The stock was down 1.1% in midday trading, hitting $218.58, near its 52-week low of $218.31 and well below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• CME Group’s recent fundamentals were solid: quarterly EPS of $3.36 beat estimates, revenue rose 14.5% year over year, and the company paid a $1.30 quarterly dividend, implying a 2.4% annual yield.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) Director William Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Down 1.1%

CME stock traded down $2.42 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $218.58. The stock had a trading volume of 5,063,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,714,862. The business has a 50-day moving average of $273.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $79.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in CME Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $302.24.

About CME Group

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.

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