International Assets Investment Management LLC Sells 483,165 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

International Assets Investment Management LLC decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 99.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 483,165 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 58.4% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $135,441,000 after acquiring an additional 226,306 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 149.4% in the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,671,000 after purchasing an additional 14,234 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in CME Group by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $403,017,000 after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in CME Group by 41.8% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $224,432,000 after purchasing an additional 303,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.53.

CME Group Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of CME traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $229.20. 2,739,420 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,167,453. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $232.56 and a 200-day moving average of $218.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a boost from CME Group's previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm'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 approximately $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, 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 a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.