World Equity Group Inc. Sells 2,350 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

World Equity Group Inc. reduced its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,350 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings 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 valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its position in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

CME Group Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $263.65 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.67. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $94.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

CME Group Profile

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.