Tributary Capital Management LLC Sells 595 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Tributary Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 595 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in CME Group by 6.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in CME Group by 11.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,072,000 after purchasing an additional 237,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on CME shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $234.68 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average price of $234.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.05. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.57 billion, a PE ratio of 24.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

About CME Group

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.