Cullinan Associates Inc. Has $561,000 Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cullinan Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 35.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,360 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Capital International Investors lifted its position in CME Group by 24.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,403,557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,069,806 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 137.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $444,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309,097 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter worth approximately $156,631,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in CME Group by 577.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,872,000 after acquiring an additional 550,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7 %

CME traded down $1.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $228.19. 64,358 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,926,559. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $230.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $218.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.16 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $222.07.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company 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.