Venture Visionary Partners LLC Sells 30,655 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Venture Visionary Partners LLC significantly reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. by 87.9%, selling 30,655 shares and retaining only 4,201 shares valued at approximately $1,115,000.
• Analyst ratings are mixed for CME Group, with one firm downgrading the stock to a "sell" while others maintain "overweight" ratings, leading to a current consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.93.
• CME Group recently reported earnings with an EPS of $2.96, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.8%.

Venture Visionary Partners LLC trimmed its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 87.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 30,655 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 612.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on CME Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of CME opened at $274.61 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $206.44 and a 52 week 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. The company has a market capitalization of $98.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.44. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $275.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.90.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

CME Group Company 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.

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