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Many CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.
While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
CME Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
The Chairman & CEO, Terrence Duffy, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$7.8m worth of shares at a price of US$259 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$277, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. This single sale was just 36% of Terrence Duffy's stake.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$592k for 2.61k shares. But insiders sold 98.55k shares worth US$24m. All up, insiders sold more shares in CME Group than they bought, over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
See our latest analysis for CME Group
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Insiders At CME Group Have Sold Stock Recently
Over the last three months, we've seen notably more insider selling, than insider buying, at CME Group. In total, insiders sold US$18m worth of shares in that time. On the flip side, Independent Director William Shepard spent US$72k on purchasing shares. Generally this level of net selling might be considered a bit bearish.
Insider Ownership Of CME Group
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that CME Group insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about US$304m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.