Conning Inc. Sells 15,910 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Conning Inc. lessened its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 124,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,910 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $34,189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in CME Group by 206.9% in the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 612.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $281.00.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $271.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.17. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The firm has a market cap of $97.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

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.