William Shepard, a director at CME Group (CME), recently bought 326 shares. The buy increased his position by less than 1%, and came to a total cost of $63,569.
Shepard was the last insider buy, with a 294 share pickup for about the same total cost back in March. Otherwise, company insiders have been sellers of shares the past few months. The CEO sold 40,000 shares for just over $8.4 million in late April.
Overall, CME Group insiders own 0.4% of shares.
The market exchange holding company is up 6% over the past year.
Trading activity has slowed somewhat, as indicated by the scant 3% revenue increase at CME Group. Plus, earnings dipped 3%, leading to flat returns.
However, CME Group does operate in an industry with few competitors, and that oligopoly power allows them to earn a hefty 57% profit margin.
Action to take: Shares are fairly valued today at about 20 times forward earnings and down more than 10% from their recent peak. Investors could start buying shares here. CME Group also pays a dividend, which yields about 4.4% at current prices.
For traders, shares may be ready to start trending higher from short-term oversold levels. The September $200 calls, last trading for about $5.40, could see mid-double-digit returns on a trend higher in the coming weeks.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.
