R Squared Ltd Sells 4,363 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

R Squared Ltd cut its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 73.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,363 shares during the quarter. R Squared Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.00.

CME Group Stock Up 3.3%

CME Group stock traded up $7.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $242.40. The stock had a trading volume of 775,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,745,922. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $87.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $267.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $284.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.