Capital Research Global Investors Boosts Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,054,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,545 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in CME Group were worth $284,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 25.3% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in CME Group by 34.7% during the 2nd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 1,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,265,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 944.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 93,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,647,000 after purchasing an additional 84,156 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.71.

More CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME is reporting record trading activity and demand: the energy complex set an all?time single?day volume record (8.3M contracts) and the firm touted record monthly futures volume, evidence of strong client flow and fee generation that supports revenues and long?term earnings. Energy Volume Record
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: CME launched new South Asia crude palm oil futures and already recorded initial block trades, showing uptake for new contracts and incremental revenue opportunities from expanded product suites. Palm Oil Futures Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure partnership: Tickblaze announced integration of CME futures market data into its platform, which can broaden distribution of CME data products to prop trading shops and institutional users. This supports data?services revenue potential. Tickblaze Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options activity: a huge spike in call purchases was reported (very large notional / volume vs typical), which could signal speculative bullish positioning but may also be one?day noise; treat as mixed short?term signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short?interest data in recent feeds shows zero/NaN entries and 0 days?to?cover — this appears to be a reporting anomaly and should not be read as a material change in short demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Ex?dividend mechanical pressure: the board declared a large combined payout (~$7.45 per share), and the stock adjusted lower on the ex?dividend date as expected; that mechanical drop is the main proximate cause of today’s decline. Ex?Dividend Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Sell pressure from sentiment and flows: recent profit?taking after strong run, at least one analyst downgrade and large institutional moves (notably big reductions by some asset managers) and reported insider sales have likely added incremental selling pressure. Analyst / Institutional / Insider Notes

CME Group Stock Down 4.0%

CME opened at $306.34 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $293.60 and its 200-day moving average is $278.26. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $248.53 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $110.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

CME Group 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.