JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Sells 3,858 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 175,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,858 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $47,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after purchasing an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after buying an additional 238,522 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of CME opened at $269.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $97.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.62 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $290.82.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.