Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 141,969 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board sold 141,969 shares of CME Group Inc., reducing its stake by 21.2% to approximately 526,462 shares valued at $139.67 million.
• Wall Street analysts have issued a consensus rating of "Hold" for CME Group, with price targets varying from $261.93 to $303.00.
• CME Group announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, representing an annual yield of 1.9%, to be paid on September 25th to investors on record by September 9th.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 21.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 526,462 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 141,969 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.15% of CME Group worth $139,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 612.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $3.91 on Wednesday, reaching $269.31. 1,247,724 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,310,719. The company's 50 day moving average is $275.39 and its 200-day moving average is $269.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.38 and a fifty-two week 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on CME shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 target price on CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $261.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,300,215. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.