CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stake Trimmed by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,100,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 22,459 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.31% of CME Group worth $242,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in CME Group by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,029,145 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $595,530,000 after purchasing an additional 94,302 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $557,371,000 after buying an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $554,707,000 after buying an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in CME Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $492,072,000 after buying an additional 237,800 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,811,681 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock traded up $2.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $239.19. The company had a trading volume of 2,013,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,960,037. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $228.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.