Procyon Advisors LLC Sells 2,607 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Procyon Advisors LLC lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,607 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. bought a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 2.1% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,168,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 23.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,328,000 after buying an additional 203,251 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 16.0% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.9 %

CME stock opened at $232.31 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The company has a market capitalization of $83.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $232.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.42. 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 posted 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 business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.27.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.