Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 3,806 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,806 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $273.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.89. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.46 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.06.

About CME Group

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.