City Holding Co. Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

City Holding Co. decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 504 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $959,260,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,563,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in CME Group by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,072,654,000 after buying an additional 1,172,575 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,772,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $2.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $196.50. The company had a trading volume of 237,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,834,641. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.97 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $206.64 and its 200-day moving average is $209.20.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total transaction of $211,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,241 shares in the company, valued at $3,858,336.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total transaction of $211,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,858,336.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $206.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.90.

CME Group Company Profile

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.