California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 103,084 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 816,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 103,084 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in CME Group were worth $241,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth 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. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $245.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $88.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $258.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.12.

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.