CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management trimmed its CME Group stake by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 50,804 shares. It still held 9.33 million shares worth about $2.54 billion, or roughly 2.59% of the company.
• CME Group beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $3.36 versus the $3.11 consensus and revenue of $1.88 billion versus $1.77 billion expected. Revenue rose 14.5% year over year, and analysts now see full-year EPS of 12.28.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable June 25, for an annualized yield of about 1.9%. Meanwhile, analysts remain split but currently rate the stock Moderate Buy with an average target price of $305.29.

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,327,587 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 50,804 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.59% of CME Group worth $2,544,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $636,487,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $217,656,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in CME Group by 107.2% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth about $164,648,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $279.10 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $294.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.61. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.17 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $101.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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