GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd Trims Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,882,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 361,342 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for about 13.7% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $513,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anfield Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 197.4% in the fourth quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. Corporate 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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Barclays reduced their target price on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group Trading Down 1.4%

CME opened at $273.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.17 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $293.28 and a 200 day moving average of $289.51.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

CME Group Company 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.