CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 942,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,568 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $259,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3,662.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $227,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 157.7% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 303,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,598,000 after buying an additional 185,941 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $269.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $266.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.67.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

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.