Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lowered its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,085 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $13,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 40,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,028,000 after purchasing an additional 6,786 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 58,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,424,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 25,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,386,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $206.00 to $187.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.82.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $199.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,554,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,781,966. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.11 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $201.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel R. Glickman sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.44, for a total value of $130,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,821,771.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,290 shares of company stock worth $11,393,700. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.