Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 15,448 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 34.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,448 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $265.44 on Thursday. 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 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $96.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.11.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

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.