Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Sells 136 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC decreased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 136 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its position in CME Group by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in CME Group by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $693,847,000 after buying an additional 217,101 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME traded up $3.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $211.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,708,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,786,597. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $213.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.42. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

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.