CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 887,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,608 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $262,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 26.8% in the third quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $88.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $264.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $283.70. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.00.

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.