Lbp Am Sa Trims Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Lbp Am Sa cut its stake in CME Group by 69.7% in Q4, selling 14,624 shares and leaving 6,365 shares valued at $1.738 million.
• Analyst consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $309.94, based on 2 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 6 Hold and 2 Sell ratings and several recent target adjustments.
• CME slightly beat Q4 EPS estimates ($2.77 vs. $2.75) with revenue up 8.1% year-over-year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20, yield ~1.8%).

Lbp Am Sa lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 69.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,365 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,624 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co grew its position in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $309.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 2.9%

NASDAQ CME opened at $287.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $306.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.38. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $251.90 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $103.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

CME Group Company 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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