California Public Employees Retirement System Has $241.11 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 816,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 103,084 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.23% of CME Group worth $241,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were 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 directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of CME opened at $245.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $258.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

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.