Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 24,941 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Madison Asset Management LLC cut its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 22.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,941 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $25,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,523,241,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 746.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,491 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,656,000. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of CME opened at $245.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $257.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.93. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.