CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Burling Wealth Partners LLC

Burling Wealth Partners LLC cut its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 17.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,606 shares during the period. Burling Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 0.8% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 5,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.2% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 76,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 31,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,551,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $302.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $109.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $246.68 and a twelve month high of $309.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $281.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.80%.

About CME Group

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.