Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Cuts Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,669 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 26.8% during the third quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $88.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $264.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $283.70.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last 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, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.00.

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.