CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,140,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 362,253 shares during the period. CME Group makes up about 1.7% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $311,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas raised its position in CME Group by 2,154.3% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 11,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,196,000 after acquiring an additional 11,181 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 16,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,515,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 1,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Bantamac Capital LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Bantamac Capital LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc raised its position in shares of CME Group by 114.3% in the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 14,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,036,000 after buying an additional 7,881 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $257.76 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $93.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $292.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during 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%. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.