Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 2,018 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Metis Global Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,018 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in CME Group by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 15,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,051,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of CME Group by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus boosted their price target on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America upped their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $208.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,782,695. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $74.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day moving average is $214.10 and its 200-day moving average is $211.49. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.73 and a 12-month high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.33%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.