Cullinan Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cullinan Associates Inc. lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,790 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $253.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 earned $2.96 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

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.