First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 299,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,240 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.08% of CME Group worth $81,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,539,618,000 after acquiring an additional 130,698 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.71.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6%

CME stock opened at $319.09 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $292.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.59, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $248.53 and a one year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

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.