Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Sells 6,227 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 586,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,227 shares during the period. CME Group accounts for approximately 1.6% of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $161,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after buying an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,091,401,000 after buying an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after buying an additional 238,522 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $270.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $224.62 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $271.57 and a 200-day moving average of $272.76.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,147 shares of company stock valued at $562,079. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.