Profund Advisors LLC Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Profund Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 892 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in CME Group by 185.5% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $330,182,000 after acquiring an additional 808,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 79.4% during the 1st quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $459,003,000 after acquiring an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.06.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $278.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $266.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $272.60. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $222.56 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The business’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $1.25 dividend. 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 currently 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486 in the last three months. 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.