Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. by 1.4%, resulting in ownership of approximately 3.07 million shares valued at $813.79 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Heartland Bank & Trust Co. and Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC, have increased their investments in CME Group during the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on CME Group, with target prices ranging from $211.00 to $305.00, alongside a consensus rating of "Hold".

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,067,559 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 42,317 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.85% of CME Group worth $813,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the sale, the director owned 3,108 shares of the company's stock, valued at $863,651.04. The trade was a 25.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. The trade was a 12.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,576,294. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME traded up $1.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $282.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,488,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,050,219. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $101.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $203.77 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The business's fifty day moving average price is $275.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $265.67.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's 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.