CME Group Inc. $CME Stock: Monte Financial Group LLC Decreases Stake

Monte Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,332 shares during the quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $26,000. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 471.4% during the third quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 5,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.70, for a total value of $1,493,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,985,051.90. This trade represents a 19.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Howard Siegel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.00, for a total transaction of $606,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,021,519. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 32,979 shares of company stock valued at $9,552,762 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $307.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $109.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $282.60 and a 200 day moving average of $280.66. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CME shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. CLSA set a $367.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $315.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.44.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for futures and options contracts. Its products cover major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. The company also provides market data, benchmark information and related services used by financial institutions, corporations, producers, investors and other market participants.

CME Group’s exchange portfolio includes CME, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX.