CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Checchi Capital Advisers LLC

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC decreased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 7,676.3% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,975,000 after buying an additional 2,176,685 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in CME Group by 370.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in CME Group by 185.5% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $330,182,000 after buying an additional 808,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP lifted its position in CME Group by 79.4% in the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $459,003,000 after buying an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $274.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $264.67 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $269.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.13. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

About CME Group

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.