CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in CME Group by 7.1%, selling 8,994 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 118,139 shares valued at approximately $31.3 million.
• Analyst ratings for CME Group vary, with Citigroup increasing the target price to $275 while Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock to a "sell," reflecting mixed sentiments among analysts.
• CME Group announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, representing a yield of 1.8%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 9th.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,139 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,994 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $31,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,190,000 after purchasing an additional 19,533 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 246,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $57,270,000 after purchasing an additional 17,551 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.4% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $266.51. 1,562,708 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,931,839. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.75 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $275.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $269.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group's payout ratio is 48.40%.

CME Group 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.