CME Group Inc. $CME Stake Lifted by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 228,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,766 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.06% of CME Group worth $67,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of CME stock opened at $240.75 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $87.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $265.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $283.86.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

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.