CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) General Counsel Jonathan Marcus Sells 3,291 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) General Counsel Jonathan Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6%

CME stock opened at $310.71 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $112.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $299.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.06.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 24.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,150,000 after purchasing an additional 385,225 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,106,000 after buying an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after buying an additional 13,512 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 85.2% in the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 310.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.