CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 55.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,658 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $584,975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in CME Group by 185.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after acquiring an additional 808,740 shares during the period. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP raised its stake in CME Group by 79.4% during the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,003,000 after acquiring an additional 765,773 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $271.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.41 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $265.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.18. The company has a market capitalization of $97.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.30, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CME shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Argus lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.19.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 14,043 shares of company stock worth $3,791,486 in the last three months. 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.