Cullen Investment Group LTD. Sells 14,253 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Cullen Investment Group LTD. trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 36.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,253 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.06.

CME Group Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of CME stock opened at $293.93 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $301.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.25. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.53 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $105.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

CME Group Company 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.