Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 5,397 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Granite Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,397 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $226,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $547,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 105,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 15,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Bank of America lowered shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $212.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.73.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $213.16 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.53. The company has a market cap of $76.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

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.