CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 24.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,546,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 502,236 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 0.43% of CME Group worth $456,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $265.44 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $251.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.11. The company has a market capitalization of $96.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.25.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.