Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 887,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,608 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.25% of CME Group worth $262,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.00.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

CME Group stock opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $264.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $283.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $88.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.