New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in CME Group by 1.4%, selling 3,746 shares and finishing the quarter with 271,083 shares worth about $74.03 million.
• Several large institutions moved into or expanded CME positions—Sanders Capital and Strive opened sizable new stakes, Mawer more than doubled its holding, and Vanguard bought 588,509 shares—leaving roughly 87.75% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• CME beat quarterly estimates (EPS $3.36 vs. $3.11; revenue $1.88B vs. $1.77B), raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20, 1.8% yield), and carries a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a $305.29 target.

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 271,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,746 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of CME Group worth $74,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in CME Group by 107.2% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $406,029,000 after buying an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $287.82 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $303.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $286.58. The company has a market capitalization of $103.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group 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.