Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Amalgamated Bank cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in CME Group were worth $18,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 68,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,662,000 after buying an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 14.5% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 46,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,368,000 after acquiring an additional 5,909 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 278.7% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 155,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,141,000 after purchasing an additional 114,463 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its position in CME Group by 16.8% during the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 2,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in CME Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $207.65. The stock had a trading volume of 2,065,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,202. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $214.30 and its 200 day moving average is $211.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.73 and a twelve month high of $223.80.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

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.