Silphium Asset Management Ltd Sells 4,623 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Silphium Asset Management cut its stake in CME Group by 43.8%, selling 4,623 shares in Q4 and retaining 5,933 shares worth $1.62M (about 0.7% of its portfolio).
• Insiders have been net sellers — 8,539 shares sold over the past 90 days (including director sales of 300 and 748 shares) — even as institutional ownership remains high at 87.75% and some funds (e.g., SG Americas) significantly increased positions.
• CME slightly beat Q4 estimates with $2.77 EPS and $1.65B revenue, raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20, 1.8% yield), and carries a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $309.94.

Silphium Asset Management Ltd lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 43.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,933 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,623 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 0.7% of Silphium Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Silphium Asset Management Ltd's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,896,000 after acquiring an additional 13,512 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,919 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,855 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $309.94.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $287.65 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $306.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $251.90 and a one year high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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