Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 260,259 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. by 20.1%, now holding approximately 1,031,848 shares which constitutes about 3.8% of its portfolio.
• CME Group's stock price decreased by 1.9% to $274.12, with a twelve-month high of $290.79 and a low of $193.25.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, which translates to an annual yield of 1.82% and a payout ratio of 48.40%.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 20.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,031,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 260,259 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up about 3.8% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of CME Group worth $273,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 122.2% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of CME traded up $2.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $280.76. 3,011,041 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,377,429. The firm has a market cap of $101.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.55. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.62 and a 12-month high of $290.79. 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 (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,035,916.56. This trade represents a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,881,130 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.