CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Magnetar Financial LLC

Magnetar Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 23.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,644 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,091,401,000 after acquiring an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $804,823,000 after acquiring an additional 84,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,790,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $769,143,000 after purchasing an additional 44,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.65.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

CME Group stock opened at $275.21 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $224.62 and a twelve month high of $290.79. 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 has a market cap of $99.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $268.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.84.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,043 shares of company stock worth $3,791,486. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.