CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 190,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,670 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in CME Group were worth $52,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $291.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.29. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $257.17 and a one year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. TD Cowen lowered their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.29.

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.