Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,211 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 36.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,084 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,211 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in CME Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was 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 $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded down $7.83 on Tuesday, reaching $282.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,852,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,185,818. The company has a market capitalization of $101.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $270.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.90.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

About CME Group

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.