Capital International Sarl Decreases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Capital International Sarl decreased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,548 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Amundi raised its holdings in CME Group by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after acquiring an additional 13,512 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 310.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $319.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $115.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $292.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.00. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.53 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on CME shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.71.

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.