Silphium Asset Management Ltd Cuts Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Silphium Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 43.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,623 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises about 0.7% of Silphium Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Silphium Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,539,618,000 after acquiring an additional 130,698 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in CME Group in the third quarter worth $1,006,932,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $913,548,000 after acquiring an additional 20,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in CME Group by 23.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $764,725,000 after acquiring an additional 528,358 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $309.94.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $287.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $103.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $285.62. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $251.90 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

About CME Group

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.