Groupe la Francaise Sells 10,164 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Groupe la Francaise decreased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 56.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,164 shares during the quarter. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 746.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,491 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in CME Group by 39.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,019,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,187,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,587 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $217,656,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $164,648,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of CME stock opened at $267.79 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 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $250.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

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.