DRW Securities LLC Sells 1,791 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

DRW Securities LLC lowered its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 59.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,791 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 137.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $444,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309,097 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in CME Group by 577.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,872,000 after purchasing an additional 550,133 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 21,465.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,070,000 after purchasing an additional 483,618 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $79,692,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The trade was a 12.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $237.33 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $238.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

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.