Haverford Trust Co Sells 944 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Haverford Trust Co decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 69,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 944 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in CME Group were worth $18,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 256.9% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $258,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $261.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of CME opened at $269.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $275.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $268.31. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $206.44 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.40%.

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.