ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Reduces Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $237.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.53.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $228.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 862,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,843,161. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $232.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $218.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $82.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced 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. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $5.80 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.