Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 70 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,598,000 after buying an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 193,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,046,000 after purchasing an additional 35,572 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd raised its stake in CME Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 1,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 1,523,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,787,000 after buying an additional 53,389 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $261.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $258.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.21. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $273.42. The firm has a market cap of $94.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $247.73.

CME Group Company Profile

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.