William Shepard, a director at CME Group (CME), recently bought 322 shares. The buy came to a total cost just under $58,000, and the buy increased the director’s stake by less than 1 percent.
The director has been a regular buyer since last November, with no insider sales in that time. This is his sixth purchase. The last purchase occurred in March, and came to just under $94,000. Insiders were largely sellers before then.
Overall, company insiders own 0.5 percent of shares.
The stock exchange company is down by over 10 percent in the past year. Last year’s stock trading activity during the bear market has slowed, but revenues are still up 7 percent, and earnings up 25 percent over the last four quarters.
Even better, CME Group has a 56 percent profit margin, and can likely continue to keep that high margin even if trading on financial exchanges slows.
Action to take: CME Group is a leader in the market exchange space, an industry with a small number of players. Shares pay a 2.4 percent dividend right now, and CME Group has a history of growing its dividend over time.
For traders, the September $200 calls, last going for about $1.05, could see mid-double-digit gains in the coming months if the current trend higher in shares continues.
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 of the companies mentioned in this article.