CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,663 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in CME Group were worth $22,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,656,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in CME Group by 107.2% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced that Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy will present at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and Fintech Conference on June 4, which keeps the company visible to investors and may reinforce its growth story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says CME’s planned 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum futures trading could attract more institutional crypto volume, which may support future derivatives activity and trading revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: CME also lowered margin requirements on gold and silver futures, a move that may help keep trading active during volatile commodity markets but is not clearly a major fundamental catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro commentary from the CME floor highlighted sticky inflation and stronger durable goods data, which could keep Fed policy uncertain and sustain trading activity, but the direct impact on CME stock is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto articles suggesting Bitcoin’s “CME gap” may disappear with round-the-clock trading could reduce the market’s focus on CME-specific weekend price gaps, weakening one of the more visible trading narratives tied to the company’s crypto franchise. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the 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. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $273.54 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.17 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $293.28 and a 200-day moving average of $289.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 3.06 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.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.