Capital International Sarl Trims Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Capital International Sarl reduced its CME Group stake by 58.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 35,169 shares and leaving it with 24,873 shares worth about $6.79 million.
• Insider selling has also been notable, with CEO Terrence A. Duffy and General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus both trimming their holdings; insiders sold 44,044 shares worth about $13.3 million over the last three months.
• CME Group reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $3.36 versus estimates of $3.11 and revenue of $1.88 billion, while also declaring a $1.30 quarterly dividend payable June 25.

Capital International Sarl cut its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 58.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 35,169 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl's holdings in CME Group were worth $6,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors grew its stake in CME Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,197,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,146,593,000 after acquiring an additional 87,411 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 712.2% during the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 94,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,835,000 after acquiring an additional 82,960 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 983 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $269,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $111,531,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, 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 this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $257.40 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $244.56 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.67. 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 (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CME. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.29.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.