CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) CEO Terrence Duffy Sells 15,000 Shares of Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) CEO Terrence Duffy sold 15,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.44, for a total transaction of $4,116,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,630 shares in the company, valued at $11,150,497.20. This represents a 26.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of CME traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $275.54. 1,050,561 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,606,206. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $262.78 and its 200-day moving average is $277.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on CME shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.75.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in CME Group by 21,954.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 131,243,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,982,397,000 after acquiring an additional 130,647,934 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,749,965,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $867,313,000. Finally, Alphabet Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $769,376,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company’s principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.