Peoples Bank KS Trims Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Peoples Bank KS reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Peoples Bank KS’s holdings in CME Group were worth $954,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 515.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $213.77.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group 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 completion of 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1 %

CME Group stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $224.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,585,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,959,577. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.71. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $226.78.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.33%.

About CME Group

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.