Cantillon Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cantillon Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,561,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,177 shares during the period. CME Group makes up 2.3% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $421,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Amundi grew its position in shares of CME Group by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 85.2% during the third quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 310.2% in the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 86.0% in the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 583.8% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 11,378 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $281.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $274.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.97. The firm has a market cap of $101.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.96 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.82.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.