National Pension Service Has $183.81 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

National Pension Service reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 27.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 673,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 253,924 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in CME Group were worth $183,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 17,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,862,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in CME Group by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 13,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,723,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 86,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was 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 $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Key CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced that Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy will present at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and Fintech Conference on June 4, which keeps the company visible to investors and may reinforce its growth story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says CME’s planned 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum futures trading could attract more institutional crypto volume, which may support future derivatives activity and trading revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: CME also lowered margin requirements on gold and silver futures, a move that may help keep trading active during volatile commodity markets but is not clearly a major fundamental catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro commentary from the CME floor highlighted sticky inflation and stronger durable goods data, which could keep Fed policy uncertain and sustain trading activity, but the direct impact on CME stock is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto articles suggesting Bitcoin’s “CME gap” may disappear with round-the-clock trading could reduce the market’s focus on CME-specific weekend price gaps, weakening one of the more visible trading narratives tied to the company’s crypto franchise. Article Title

CME Group Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of CME stock opened at $273.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $293.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.51.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

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.