Traders Purchase High Volume of CME Group Call Options (NASDAQ:CME)

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 556,139 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 23,024% compared to the average volume of 2,405 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 30.5% in the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $165,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 25.3% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.71.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $1.99 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $319.09. 3,573,169 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,334,341. CME Group has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $292.18 and a 200-day moving average of $277.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

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.