Channing Capital Management LLC Sells 3,853 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Channing Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,853 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 15,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,051,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in CME Group by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 653 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CME shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of CME stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $207.69. 1,176,570 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,776,310. The stock has a market cap of $74.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.