Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 670,306 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,944,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 670,306 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.82% of CME Group worth $634,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BOKF NA grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 32,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,892,000 after buying an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,051,000. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 4,009,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $863,112,000 after purchasing an additional 43,293 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 54.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 16,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,573,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 99,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,518,000 after purchasing an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,936.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other CME Group news, Director Daniel R. Glickman sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.44, for a total value of $130,936.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,821,771.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,290 shares of company stock worth $2,957,300. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $212.64.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $200.58. The stock had a trading volume of 394,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,815. The business’s fifty day moving average is $199.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $72.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 0.52. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.8 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

CME Group Company 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.