CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 186,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,765 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $50,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in CME Group by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 100,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,695,000 after purchasing an additional 28,085 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 10.6% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 6,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 108.4% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after buying an additional 2,174 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on CME Group from $320.00 to $319.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $281.39 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.96 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $101.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $274.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.97.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. 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 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.