QRG Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

QRG Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,463 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $20,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after purchasing an additional 56,725 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $236.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $284.28.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their target price on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.94.

CME Group 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.