Unigestion Holding SA Sells 57,264 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Unigestion Holding SA reduced its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,478 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 57,264 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA's holdings in CME Group were worth $26,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in CME Group by 4.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 234,565 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,757,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after buying an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at $596,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,811,681. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Citigroup raised their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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, Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $226.20.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME traded down $4.89 on Wednesday, hitting $234.30. The company had a trading volume of 3,689,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,967,903. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $249.02. The stock has a market cap of $84.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.56. The company's fifty day moving average price is $228.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.33. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.37%.

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.