CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Delta Global Management LP

Delta Global Management LP lessened its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,157 shares during the quarter. Delta Global Management LP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group restated an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.71.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $244.56 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.95.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

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.