Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 990,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,170 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises 1.2% of Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC owned 0.27% of CME Group worth $292,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. UBS Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $267.79 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $250.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

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.