CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Position Lowered by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 525,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 50,309 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $122,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after buying an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CME. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $280.45 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $261.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.61. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $282.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,076 shares of company stock worth $7,670,976 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.