Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,950,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 404,373 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in CME Group were worth $871,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 16.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,574,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares during the last quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd increased its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 17,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,290,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 8.5% in the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in CME Group by 31.4% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 154,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,518,000 after acquiring an additional 36,844 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $280,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of CME stock opened at $260.00 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $252.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.11%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America increased their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

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.