Stock Traders Buy High Volume of CME Group Put Options (NASDAQ:CME)

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 3,030 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 54% compared to the typical volume of 1,967 put options.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,891,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 81.4% in the 1st quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 44,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,588,000 after buying an additional 19,985 shares during the period. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in CME Group by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in CME Group by 229.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 292,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,618,000 after buying an additional 203,769 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its holdings in CME Group by 66.5% in the 1st quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 45,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,708,000 after buying an additional 18,017 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.73.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $216.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $78.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.55. CME Group has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $205.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.67.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.