CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by Mirabella Financial Services LLP

Mirabella Financial Services LLP raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 211.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,425 shares during the quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in CME Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 41,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 21,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,469 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in CME Group by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $845,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG lifted its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.06.

CME Group Stock Down 1.4%

CME opened at $308.90 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $248.53 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $298.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,248 shares of company stock worth $1,616,700. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

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.