Farmers Trust Co. Sells 389 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Farmers Trust Co. reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 1.3% of Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,004 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $237.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.53.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the sale, the insider now 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 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME traded up $1.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $228.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,235,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,891,320. 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 stock has a market cap of $82.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $249.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.15.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors 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 of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group 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.