Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 0.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 955,731 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 954 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.27% of CME Group worth $253,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $493,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,261 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $258.20.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total transaction of $817,680.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,824. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.7%

CME traded up $1.93 on Friday, hitting $274.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,681,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,080. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $275.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.68. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.17 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. CME Group's payout ratio is 50.30%.

CME Group 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.