CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Donaldson Capital Management LLC

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 205,704 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $292.18.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $289.06 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $233.66 and a twelve month high of $291.76. The firm has a market cap of $104.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.33.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.