PAX Financial Group LLC Sells 778 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

PAX Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 31.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 778 shares during the period. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,261 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $781,869,000 after purchasing an additional 939,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 4,216.2% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 922,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,301,000 after purchasing an additional 901,425 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.80.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $275.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $276.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.92. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.25 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.44. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the sale, the director owned 3,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $863,651.04. This represents a 25.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. This trade represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,680,610. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.