Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 13,975 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG trimmed its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,966 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,975 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in CME Group were worth $19,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, United Community Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $258.20.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of CME stock traded down $1.99 on Monday, hitting $267.51. The stock had a trading volume of 3,208,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,204,760. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $272.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.51. The firm has a market cap of $96.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.66, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total value of $528,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,207,729.10. This represents a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total transaction of $1,304,836.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This trade represents a 35.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,680,610 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.