National Pension Service Sells 253,924 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• National Pension Service reduced its CME Group stake by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 253,924 shares and leaving it with 673,090 shares valued at about $183.8 million. Institutional investors still own 87.75% of CME stock.
• CME’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $3.36 versus the $3.11 consensus and revenue of $1.88 billion versus $1.77 billion expected. Revenue rose 14.5% year over year, and analysts now expect full-year EPS of 12.28.
• The company remains active on dividends and market catalysts, including a $1.30 quarterly dividend payable June 25 and investor attention around CEO Terry Duffy’s upcoming conference appearance and CME’s planned 24/7 crypto futures trading.

National Pension Service cut its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 673,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 253,924 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of CME Group worth $183,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $305.29.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced that Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy will present at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange and Fintech Conference on June 4, which keeps the company visible to investors and may reinforce its growth story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says CME’s planned 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum futures trading could attract more institutional crypto volume, which may support future derivatives activity and trading revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: CME also lowered margin requirements on gold and silver futures, a move that may help keep trading active during volatile commodity markets but is not clearly a major fundamental catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro commentary from the CME floor highlighted sticky inflation and stronger durable goods data, which could keep Fed policy uncertain and sustain trading activity, but the direct impact on CME stock is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto articles suggesting Bitcoin’s “CME gap” may disappear with round-the-clock trading could reduce the market’s focus on CME-specific weekend price gaps, weakening one of the more visible trading narratives tied to the company’s crypto franchise. Article Title

CME Group Stock Down 1.4%

CME opened at $273.54 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.17 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $293.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.51. 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 has a market cap of $99.12 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.