Capital International Inc. CA Lowers Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Capital International Inc. CA decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,499 shares during the quarter. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $24,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 345.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 95.5% during the third quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 2,734 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 32.5% during the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 50,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,773,000 after buying an additional 12,503 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,122,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,913,000 after buying an additional 1,777 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $257.40 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $244.56 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $288.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

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.