Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Cuts Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. has reduced its stake in CME Group by 4.6%, holding 60,614 shares valued at approximately $16.08 million after selling 2,897 shares in the first quarter.
• A variety of analysts have set new price targets for CME Group, with UBS Group maintaining a "neutral" rating at $305.00, while Piper Sandler increased their target from $283.00 to $296.00, now rating it "overweight."
• CME Group has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, payable on September 25th, with a dividend yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 48.40%.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,897 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 466 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 7,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 1,791 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oribel Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $26,741,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ CME traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $266.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,562,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,931,839. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $207.75 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $96.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day moving average is $275.64 and its 200-day moving average is $269.36.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 48.40%.

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.