CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

by · The Markets Daily

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME – Free Report) by 37.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,432 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth about $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 131,625.5% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after acquiring an additional 485,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $127,103,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% 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 research firms recently weighed in on CME. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on CME Group from $307.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.06.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on CME

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.89. The company has a market cap of $94.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.46 and a 1-year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME – Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

About CME Group

(Free Report)

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.

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