Compass Wealth Management LLC Sells 105 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Compass Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position 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 valued at $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in CME Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,072,000 after purchasing an additional 237,800 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $234.68 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.05. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.