CME Group Inc. $CME Stock Position Lowered by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 113,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,620 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $30,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its position in CME Group by 131,625.5% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,970,000 after purchasing an additional 485,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP acquired a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $127,103,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on CME. Barclays upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.06.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $266.64 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $96.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $225.46 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.96.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.