Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Sells 39,583 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 43.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,583 shares during the period. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $15,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 34,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,280,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.5% during the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,125,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.7% during the first quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,879,000 after purchasing an additional 12,758 shares in the last quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.8% during the first quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 11,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,331,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Baer Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,261,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price target on CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $300.94.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $236.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $85.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $267.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.28. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company 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 for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

CME Group 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.