Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Decreases Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 431 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,190,661,000 after purchasing an additional 400,737 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 3.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after buying an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.0% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $804,823,000 after buying an additional 84,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,790,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $769,143,000 after purchasing an additional 44,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.4%

CME stock opened at $283.79 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $267.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.82. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $224.62 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $102.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

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 $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $287.65.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock worth $3,791,486. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.