Fiera Capital Corp Cuts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Fiera Capital Corp reduced its CME Group stake by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 108,292 shares and leaving it with 2.64 million shares valued at about $719.8 million.
• CME Group recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.36 versus $3.11 expected and revenue of $1.88 billion versus $1.77 billion expected. Revenue rose 14.5% year over year.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable June 25, representing an annualized yield of about 2.0%. At the same time, several insiders, including CEO Terrence A. Duffy, sold shares in recent months.

Fiera Capital Corp trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,635,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 108,292 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 2.3% of Fiera Capital Corp's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned 0.73% of CME Group worth $719,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1248 Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $257.40 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $244.56 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $288.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.67.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. 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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