Madison Asset Management LLC Has $25.29 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Madison Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 22.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,941 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $25,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $353.00 to $324.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.12.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.0%

CME opened at $245.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.79 and a 200-day moving average of $281.93. The company has a market capitalization of $88.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.