FORA Capital LLC Sells 7,479 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

FORA Capital LLC lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 27.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,479 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 62.2% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 66.1% during the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 515.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

CME Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $2.10 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $236.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 169,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,918,892. The stock has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $237.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $224.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.37.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This represents a 12.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About CME Group

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.