Royal Bank of Canada Sells 404,373 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,950,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 404,373 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.81% of CME Group worth $871,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Up 1.8%

NASDAQ CME opened at $260.00 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $94.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $252.29 and its 200 day moving average is $281.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued 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 was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

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.