CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,114 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $27,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Solstein Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 35.0% in the second quarter. Solstein Capital LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 584,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $161,187,000 after acquiring an additional 14,609 shares in the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 46.7% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 17.2% in the second quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 60,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 8,924 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $269.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $97.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.90.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $284.53.

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.