GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires Shares of 4,776 CME Group Inc. $CME

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 3.3% during the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.8% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 5,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 76,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 31,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,551,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.53.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ CME opened at $302.55 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $281.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.50. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $246.68 and a one year high of $309.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $109.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

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.