CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Bamco Inc. NY

Bamco Inc. NY lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 30.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,317 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 21.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,477,000 after buying an additional 8,443 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 30,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 3,325 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,112,000 after purchasing an additional 3,112 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 149.4% during the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,671,000 after buying an additional 14,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $403,017,000 after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $224.47.

CME Group Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $240.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.32. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $241.50. The company has a market capitalization of $86.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,811,681 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.