CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Cuts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lowered its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 120.3% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. This trade represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $229.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $82.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $232.68 and a 200 day moving average of $219.11.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

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.