Private Trust Co. NA Sells 224 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Private Trust Co. NA lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 224 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,309,097 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 21,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,070,000 after purchasing an additional 483,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,692,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $234.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.55. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $235.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $224.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.37.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 12.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.