Everence Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,150 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 58.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $135,441,000 after purchasing an additional 226,306 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 149.4% in the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,671,000 after buying an additional 14,234 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 18.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $403,017,000 after buying an additional 283,171 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in CME Group by 41.8% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $224,432,000 after acquiring an additional 303,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 204,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,065,000 after acquiring an additional 58,037 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.33.

CME Group Stock Down 0.1 %

CME traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $232.50. 1,597,938 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,922,269. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $83.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $232.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.43. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share 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 issued a $5.80 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 7,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was 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 three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.