Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Sells 9,754 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Azimuth Capital Investment Management cut its CME Group position by 31.7%, selling 9,754 shares and retaining 20,982 shares valued at approximately $4.63 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with nine Buy, six Hold, and three Sell ratings. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $289.75 after several firms reduced their targets.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $2.99 in EPS and $1.71 billion in revenue. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, representing a 1.8% annualized yield.

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,982 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,754 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $4,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several research reports. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Nine equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $289.75.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $281.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $258.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.20. The firm has a market cap of $101.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

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.

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