Blair William & Co. IL Trims Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in CME Group Inc. by 0.8%, holding 143,405 shares worth $39.5 million after selling 1,220 shares in the second quarter.
• CME Group reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' forecast of $2.91, with revenue up 10.4% year-over-year to $1.69 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, translating to an annualized dividend of $5.00 and a yield of 1.9%.

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 143,405 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,220 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in CME Group were worth $39,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in CME Group by 7,676.3% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $584,975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter worth about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in CME Group by 185.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $330,182,000 after acquiring an additional 808,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP raised its position in CME Group by 79.4% during the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $459,003,000 after acquiring an additional 765,773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $268.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $269.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 48.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $279.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.