Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Lowers Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,481 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $245.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $88.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.79 and a 200-day moving average of $281.93.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.