CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 188,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,306 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.05% of CME Group worth $36,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich grew its position in shares of CME Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 7,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America lowered CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $212.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.73.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $216.30 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The firm has a market cap of $77.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.54.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.