Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $13,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, United Community Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.20.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $266.10 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $95.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $271.76 and a 200-day moving average of $253.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.