Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 37,069 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 51.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 37,069 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $10,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $267.79 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $250.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.17. The firm has a market cap of $96.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

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.