Troy Asset Management Ltd Trims Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Troy Asset Management trimmed its CME Group stake by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,765 shares and leaving it with 314,284 shares valued at about $85.8 million.
• Institutional interest remains high, with 87.75% of CME Group shares owned by hedge funds and other institutions, while several firms recently increased their holdings.
• CME reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable on June 25.

Troy Asset Management Ltd cut its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 314,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 15,765 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 2.1% of Troy Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.09% of CME Group worth $85,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 8.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 78.8% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,855 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 345.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 95.5% during the third quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 15.4% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 153,625 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,508,000 after acquiring an additional 20,477 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $291.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.17 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.37%.

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.

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