Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Sells 3,461 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 48.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,461 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $913,548,000 after acquiring an additional 20,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in CME Group by 23.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $764,725,000 after acquiring an additional 528,358 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,791 shares of company stock valued at $2,489,421 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $281.25 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $301.50 and its 200-day moving average is $287.27. The stock has a market cap of $101.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

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.