Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $275.29 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Guinness Asset Management LTD lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 990,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,532 shares during the period. CME Group makes up 4.5% of Guinness Asset Management LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in CME Group were worth $275,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 48,244 shares of company stock worth $14,598,037 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $291.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.17 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.