US Bancorp DE Cuts Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE trimmed its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in Q4, selling 3,938 shares and now holds 241,239 shares (about 0.07% of the company) worth roughly $65.88 million.
• CME Group beat quarterly estimates, reporting $3.36 EPS vs. $3.11 expected and $1.88 billion in revenue (+14.5% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 ($5.20 annualized, a 1.8% yield).
• Market sentiment is mixed but favorable overall: the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $305.29, institutional investors own about 87.8% of the stock, while insiders have recently sold and now hold roughly 0.3%.

US Bancorp DE lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 241,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,938 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.07% of CME Group worth $65,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $287.82 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.17 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $303.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $103.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.26.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company 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 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Barclays cut their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $305.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $305.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% 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 ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About CME Group

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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