CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Diversified Trust Co.

Diversified Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 78.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,594 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amundi grew its position in CME Group by 24.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,150,000 after acquiring an additional 385,225 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 8.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 86.0% during the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 85.2% in the third quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 310.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CME. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised 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. TD Cowen boosted their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

CME Group Trading Down 1.3%

CME opened at $293.78 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $302.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.72.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.