Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 120 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 966.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,233.3% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.35 during trading on Monday, hitting $208.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,687,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,783,085. The company has a market capitalization of $74.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $214.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.