CME Group Inc. $CME Stake Cut by BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments reduced its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 34.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,200 shares during the period. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments’ holdings in CME Group were worth $2,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Waddell & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $221,000. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 65,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 137,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,519,000 after acquiring an additional 10,062 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,559,000 after acquiring an additional 11,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 58.1% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 393,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,425,000 after acquiring an additional 144,577 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $255.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $244.56 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $286.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.36. The firm has a market cap of $92.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.