CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,806 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in CME Group by 131,625.5% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,970,000 after purchasing an additional 485,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP purchased a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at $127,103,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.06.

CME Group Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $225.46 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $94.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $273.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

CME Group 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.