Capital World Investors Trims Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Capital World Investors trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,278,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 993,118 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned about 2.02% of CME Group worth $1,987,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 345.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 95.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 50,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,773,000 after acquiring an additional 12,503 shares in the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,325,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5%

CME stock opened at $257.40 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $244.56 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.60.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.