Fifth Third Bancorp Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 96,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,570 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $26,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.7% in the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in CME Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 123,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,497,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 163,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 2,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5%

CME stock opened at $303.07 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $280.48 and a 200 day moving average of $274.14. The firm has a market cap of $109.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $244.43 and a twelve month high of $309.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler raised 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. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.53.

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.