JT Stratford LLC Sells 3,375 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

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JT Stratford LLC lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 42.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,375 shares during the period. JT Stratford LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,190,661,000 after buying an additional 400,737 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during 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 buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 9.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,091,401,000 after buying an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in CME Group by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $915,788,000 after buying an additional 403,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,135,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $728,260,000 after buying an additional 621,713 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded down $3.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $269.52. 1,591,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,923,555. The business's 50-day moving average price is $275.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $268.31. The company has a market cap of $97.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $206.44 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 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.